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HISTORY 



SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



FROM A PERIOD PRECEDING ITS SETTLEMENT TO RECENT TIMES, 

INCLUDING 

THE ANNALS AND GEOGRAPHY OF EACH TOWNSHIP. 

WITH MAPS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ALSO, 

A SKETCH OF WOMAN'S WORK IN THE COUNTY FOR THE UNITED 

STATES SANITARY COMMISSION, AND A LIST OF THE 

SOLDIERS OF THE NATIONAL ARMY FURNISHED 

BY MANY OF THE TOWNSHIPS. 



BY 

EMILY C. BLACKMAN. 



PHILADELPHIA: . 
CLAXTON, REMSEN & H AFF E LFIN GBR, 
624, 626, AND 628 MARKET STREET. 
1873. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

EMILY C. BLACKMAN, 

in the Offioe of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



v\^i 






V\< 






PHILADELPHIA: 
COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. 



PREFACE. 



On the 20th of October, 1868, Miss Sarah M. Walker of 
Woodbourne, who had previously urged me to write a history 
of the Soldiers' Aid Societies of Susquehanna County, sent me a 
letter renewing the solicitation, and adding: "Or, what is better, 
write a history of the county and include that of the societies." 

That she should think to succeed with the greater when she 
had failed with the less, and that such a proposition should be 
made to me — wholly ignorant as I was of the early interests of 
the county — caused a hearty laugh, and at the time not a second 
thought. But, during the following night, it occurred to me that 
the necessary research for an historical work would be congenial 
employment for my father in his retirement from medical prac- 
tice, and that I could arrange for publication such material as he 
might choose. 

Within twenty-four hours afterward, we decided to undertake 
the task, and made out a list of topics which would require atten- 
tion. The same, but slightly altered, is given in the volume now 
before the reader. But, owing to the increasing feebleness of my 
father, the part assumed by him was very early relinquished. 

Those subjects, the investigation of which I had deemed a 
man's province, have received my close attention, and, after re- 
peated examination of files of newspapers and official records both 
at Wilkes-Barre and Montrose, have been prepared with less aid 
from individuals than the township annals, in which I was greatly 
dependent upon the aged and the descendants of pioneers. Owing 
to the failing memory of some, and the fact that others were but 
partially informed on matters I wished to understand, their state- 
ments were often contradictory. A third version was needed to 
furnish a key to the first or second, and, when this was not ob- 



IV PREFACE. 

tainable, the disputed points have been omitted or different ver- 
sions noted. 

If any pioneer has failed of mention, it must be distinctly 
understood that none of his descendants have given me notice of 
him. Such material as was furnished me I have had to condense 
greatly, especially in revision ; but the main points have been 
preserved as far as justice to all would permit. The sketches 
which were first received, naturally occupy the most space. 

In the annals the townships are given in the order of settle- 
ment. 

Every historical statement made to me I have repeated to the 
person making it, in order that my apprehension of it might be 
understood ; then, after reducing it to writing, I have read it aloud 
in his or her presence, and, in addition, sent the manuscript to 
the township interested, for further criticism. It is believed that 
accuracy has been obtained as nearly as possible in the thousands 
of statements given. 

It is not only expected, but desired, that the public prints will 
note any important error; still, should any error of consequence to 
those only who can readily supply the truth be discovered, private 
notice of it will be gratifying, since a complete " Errata" given 
to the public by myself would do justice to all, while a succes- 
sion of trivial corrections by aggrieved parties might undesignedly 
cause suspicion of statements which cannot be controverted. 

Four years from the day the first prospectus was published, I 
wrote the last page of the history. The variety of the cares press- 
ing upon me, added to bereavement and frequent ill health, have 
made the writing of even one page, at times, the labor of weeks. 
Still, through all, I have been glad I had this work to do. 

To place within easy reference official facts and lists of great 
local value ; to meet the long-felt want of many persons by con- 
densing voluminous statements respecting former claims to this 
section ; but especially, to furnish a record of the pioneers and early 
interests of the county, as also of its people in the late great crisis 
of the nation — this has been a service, the calling to which might 
well evoke gratitude. And yet, to make it a gift is as impossible 
as it would be insulting to the people whose deeds or whose an- 
cestors it commemorates. 

I have had, probably, little conception of what an historian might 



PREFACE. V 

deduce from our records; still, much space has been given to 
the family, the farm, the newspaper, and particularly to schools 
and churches, with the conviction that these have formed the 
character and secured the prosperity of the people. 

The courtesy and hospitality extended to me during my search 
for material, in this county, in Luzerne, and elsewhere, are grate- 
fully remembered. The loan of books and of private diaries 
not only informed the head but kindled the enthusiasm necessary 
for my labor. For twelve or fourteen days, a horse and wagon 
were placed at my service. At other times I have had various 
escort from place to place as the interests of the work demanded ; 
and now its completed pages remind me of scenery enjoyed, of 
pleasant interviews, and of valued letters, some of which were 
penned by the tremulous hand of age. 

Nearly seventy persons who contributed material, or otherwise 
aided me, have since deceased. Except for them, some points 
must have remained unsettled. 

Many persons have furnished far more than the record of their 
own families, in which case I have endeavored to give them credit 
in due connection, except as they were understood to decline it. 

All the portraits are gifts to the work, as are also several draw- 
ings and other illustrations, which, with every favor, if space per- 
mitted, it would be pleasant to designate. 

The kind suggestions of several gentlemen and ladies of best 
authority in the county were of great benefit to me during the 
progress of the work. When it was nearly completed, and found 
too voluminous, Henry D. Biddle, Esq., of Philadelphia, offered 
his assistance in reducing it within the proper compass ; and his 
labor has been invaluable. He had previously assumed the care 
of the illustrations (three of which are his own contribution), and 
of the negotiations with publishers, printers, and binders. Aside 
from the justice of this particular mention, it is gratifying to asso- 
ciate with such a service to the county, one who for more than 
twenty years has been a non-resident, but who will be recognized 
as the son of a former and valued citizen of Montrose. 

Publication was greatly facilitated by the liberality of Mrs. 
Henry Drinker, supplemented by that of Mr. Biddle, consequent 
upon their confidence in the subscribers to the work. 

It is regretted that a complete Meteorological Table could not 



VI PEEFACE. 

be given ; but, to be satisfactory, it should cover a long period of 
time, and such a one is not at present obtainable. 

Aside from the difficulty of securing scientific lists of the 
plants and animals of the county, the common names are given 
in the belief that they will prove more acceptable to the general 
reader. 

By the recent schedule of the State liens upon unpatented lands, 
it is certain that Stoke, one of the townships of Northumberland 
County in 1783, and which was annulled by Commissioners of 
Pennsylvania in 1785, extended into this section, and was prob- 
ably covered by the warrants of 1784. It may have been a part 
of the " Manor of Stoke," which was laid out, in 1769, east of the 
Susquehanna River, as the "Manor of Sunbury" was west of it; 
but inquiry at Harrisburg has failed to ascertain its limits. 

Hon. J. W. Chapman says : — 

" On many of the tracts referred to, the purchase-money was 
all paid when the warrants were taken out, though the land- 
holders neglected to take out their patents and pay their fees, 
which in such cases the State now demands only $15 for. But 
in other cases there was more land returned in the survey than 
the warrant called for, and the amount of the surplus, and interest 
thereon, is a lien on the land, besides the patent fees, for the col- 
lection of which, from the present owners of the land, the Legis- 
lature has provided by law." 

My obligations are due to Senator Fitch and Representatives 
Tylek and Beaedslee for various efforts in my behalf. 

I can congratulate patient subscribers and canvassers that the 
History of Susquehanna County is at last printed; though /may 
" have had my best days with it," while it was but a dream of 
usefulness, and not the football of criticism. 

EMILY C. BLACKMAN. . 

Ingles ide, Montrose Pa., 
April 17th, 1873. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter. page 



I. Charters of Connecticut and Pennsylvania 
II. Indians once in this section . 

III. Westmoreland, and the Pennamite Wars 

IV. The Intrusion Law and its effects . 

V. County organization .... 
YI. Officers and Bar of Susquehanna County 



1 

7 
9 

17 
24 
36 



TOWNSHIP ANNALS, AS FOLLOWS : 

VII. Great Bend. Settled 1787. First township erected. 

Organized 1793 49 

VIII. Harmony. Settled 1787. Tenth township erected. 

Organized 1809 87 

IX. Oakland. Settled 1787. Twenty-seventh township 

erected. Organized 1853 100 

X. Brooklyn. Settled 1787. Sixteenth township erected. 

Organized 1814 110 

XL New Milford. Settled 1789. Eighth township erected. 

Organized 1807 143 

XII. Herrick. Settled 1789. Eighteenth township erected. 

Organized 1825 163 

XIII. Harford. Settled 1790. Ninth township erected. 

Organized 1808 174 

XIV. Gibson. Settled 1793. Twelfth township erected. 

Organized 1813 . . ' 191 

XV. Rush. Settled 1794. Fifth township erected. Organ- 
ized 1801 211 

XVI. Dimock. Settled 1796. Nineteenth township erected. 

Organized 1832 222 

XVII. Lenox. Settled 1796. Second township erected. Or- 
ganized 1795 237 

XVIII. Auburn. Settled 1797. Fourth township erected. 

Organized 1799 248 

XIX. Franklin. Settled 1799. Twenty-first township erected. 

Organized 1835 258 

XX. Liberty. Settled 1799. Third township erected. Or- 
ganized 1798 275 

XXL Bridgewater and Montrose. Settled 1799. Seventh 

township erected. Organized 1806 . . . 283 



vm 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter. 
XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXY. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 



XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 

XLIII. 

XLIV. 



Middletown. Settled 1799. Fourteenth township 

erected. Organized 1814 .... 

Jessup. Settled 1799. Twenty-fourth township erected 

Organized 1846 

Forest Lake. Settled 1799. Twenty-second township 

erected. Organized 1836 .... 
Clifford. Settled 1799. Sixth township erected. 

ganized 1806 

Lathrop. Settled 1799. Twenty-third township 

erected. Organized 1846 .... 
Springville. Settled 1799. Fifteenth township erected 

Organized 1814 

Apolacon. Settled 1800. Twenty-fifth township 

erected. Organized 1846 .... 
Choconut. Settled 1806. Thirteenth township erected 

Organized 1814 

Silver Lake. Settled 1809. Eleventh township erected 

Organized 1813 

Jackson. Settled 1809. Seventeenth township erected 

Organized 1815 

Ararat. Settled 1810. Twenty-sixth township erected 

Organized 1852 

Thomson. Settled 1820. Twentieth township erected 

Organized 1833 



Nicholson Lands 

Geological Formation and Mineral Eesources 

Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts 

Roads and Post Offices .... 

Changes in Politics 

Schools and Churches 

Newspapers and Editors .... 

Authors and Artists 

Physicians and the Medical Society 
Temperance Societies ..... 
Secret Societies and the Census . 



PAGE 

345 
356 

368 

382 

400 

406 

422 

430 

444 

463 

472 

482 

486 
491 
502 
509 
518 
526 
539 
544 
553 
557 
571 



APPENDIX. 

Joe Smith 577 

Treadwell Trial . . . ' 582 

Note on Magnetic Variation (County Line). . . 583 
Woman's Work for the IT. S. Sanitary and Freedmen's 

Commissions 584 

List of Soldiers . 620 

Index 635 



LIST OF MAPS, LITHOGRAPHS, STEEL PLATES, ENGRAVINGS, ETC. 



Map of the County . . . . . • to face Title 

Map Illustrating the New England Charter Claims, west of the Delaware 
Map showing the various purchases made from the Indians 
Map of Westmoreland, showing the Connecticut Surveys 

Map of Old Luzerne County 

Engraving — Seal, Court of Quarter Sessions, Susquehanna County 
Diagram — showing official divisions of Susquehanna County, 1790 
Diagram— showing " " " " " 1799 

Diagram — showing boundaries of township of Rush, 1801 
Diagram— showing Election Districts — Susquehanna County, 1S01 
Diagram — showing divisions of Susquehanna County in 1808 



Diagram — showing " " " " 

Diagram — showing " " " " 

Diagram — showing " " " " 

Diagram of "The Fan," at Great Bend . 

Engraving — Falls of Cascade Creek . 

Engraving — The Cascade Bridge 

Engraving — The Starucca Viaduct . 

Portrait of James B. Gregg .... 

Portrait of Col. Frederick Bailey 

Engraving — Old Universalist Church, Brooklyn 

Portrait of Secku Meylert .... 

Portrait of Christopher L. Ward 

Diagram — Site of First Bark Cabin — Beaver Meadow 

Diagram — Nine Partners' Purchase . 

Portrait of Joab Tyler, Esq. .... 

Portrait of Rev. Lyman Richardson . 

Engraving of Harford Academy, 1844 

Portrait of Hon. Galusha A. Grow 

Engraving — The Old Post House 

Portrait of David Post, Esq 

Engraving — The Old Raynsford House 
Diagram— The Sun-dogs, 1807 . 
Portrait of Elder Davis Dimock 
Lithograph — The Montrose Green, 1S40 . 
Diagram — Successive Borough Limits of Montrose 



in 1810 
in 1815 
in 1S72 



1812 



PAGE 

Page. 
1 
6 
10 

14 
24 
26 
27 
27 
28 
2!) 
30 
34 
35 
65 



106 
126 
141 
156 
162 
176 
178 
178 
180 
185 
244 
290 
290 
293 
300 
306 
316 
317 



X LIST OF MAPS, LITHOGEAPHS, ETC. 

PAGE 

Portrait of Hon. Almon H. Read 332 

Portrait of Hon. William Jessup, LL.D. ....... 334 

Portrait of Henry Drinker ......... 336 

Engraving — The Old Presbyterian Church, Montrose .... 340 

Portrait of Rev. Henry A. Riley 342 

Map of the Connecticut Survey of Manor, Delaware First Purchase . . 356 

Portrait of Hon. Asa Packer 414 

Engraving — Lakeside — Residence of Mrs. Caleb Carmalt .... 439 

Lithograph— Silver Lake, 1816 450 

Lithograph — Silver Lake — Residence of the late Robert H. Rose . .458 

Engraving — R. C. Chapel of St. Augustine 462 

Portrait of Elder J. B. Worden 470 

Portrait of Hon. Benjamin Parke, LL.D. ....... 508 

Engraving — Old Seal of Susquehanna Academy . . . . . 526 

Portrait of Edith May 548 

Portrait of Rev. Elisha Mulford, LL.D 550 

Portrait of Hon. S. B. Chase 570 

APPENDIX. 

Diagram — Joe Smith's Diggings ........ 581 



\l 



ERRATA. 



(Readers are requested to mark the corrections as designated.) 

i 37, line 2d from the bottom, after " Judge," insert and. 

38, " 21st, for "Warmer" read Warner. 

39, " 25th, the name of "L. F. Fitch" should be in italics. 
41, " 30th, for " David D. Warner" read Davis D. Warner. 
•43, " 32d, for " Simon Stephens" read Simon Stevens. 

45, " 3d, for " Philander Stevens" read Philander Stephens. 

46, in 2d foot note, for " now" read since. 
48, line 46th, for " Lew" read Law. 

64, " 13th, for "Thompson" read Thomson. 

97, " 16th, after " murdered" insert, as supposed. 

204, " 7th, for " 1739" read 1839. 

207, " 25th, for "Kinsbury" read Kingsbury. 

221, " 5th, after "all he had," read but one. 

254, " 16th, for " Merryall's" read Merry all. 

254, " 20th, for "relates" read writes. 

280, " 3d, for " terrible" read terribly. 

288, " 4th, for " now" read late. 

319, " 2d, for "clear" read cleared 

335, " 13th, from bottom, after "in consequence," insert during the Revolution. 

347, " 46th, for "fort" read forks. 

457, " 29th, omit sentence about Agricultural Society. 

460, " 9th, after " petition" read against slavery. 

499, " 21st, for " Eoswick" read Bostwic/c. 

538, omission of the present number of members of Liberty Bapt. Church, 73. 



The following should have been inserted on page 331. 



1813. 
1818. 
1853. 
1855. 
1854-55. 



1867-8. 
1870. 



COST OF PCBLIC BUILDINGS. 

Court-house (containing jail), built by Oliver C. Smith . $4,500 00 

Fireproof Offices, built by Daniel Lyon .... 2,562 60 

Jail (now engine house), built by Boyd and Smith . . 5,768 34 

Removal of Fireproof Building by the commissioners . 130 00 
New Court-house. 

To architect and drawing contract . . $320 00 



Contract price 
Furniture, including bell 
Total 



New Jail .... 
Repairs on new Court-bouse 



Making a total of nearly seventy-one thous 



and dollars 



18,500 00 
1,425 70 



$20,245 70 

34,707 07 
3,025 09 




nhLsiratin^ the 

toe m&HTEEi C 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER I. 
CHARTERS OF CONNECTICUT AND PENNSYLVANIA. 

The history of the section of Pennsylvania described as Sus- 
quehanna County, extends far back of its official organization. 
It can best be understood by a somewhat extended reference to 
a period preceding even the settlement of the county, when its 
area, with that of Luzerne from which it was taken, was still a 
portion of old Northumberland. A review of still earlier times 
is necessary fully to account for the peculiar relation which this 
territory once sustained to the State of Connecticut. 

Grave questions have been practically decided in the status 
of this small corner of the Commonwealth— questions arising 
from the transatlantic origin of titles to lands in America — and 
these first claim our attention. 

Explanation of Map of Charter Claims. 

1. Massachusetts and Connecticut, with a general review of their charter 
claims, west. 

2. The Connecticut County and Town of Westmoreland, from the Delaware 
west to the Fort Stanwix line ; which sent Representatives to the Assembly at 
Hartford and New Haven, from 1774 to 1783. 

3. The north and south line, one hundred and twenty miles west of the line, 
ten miles east of the Susquehanna, indicates the western limits of the Connec- 
ticut Susquehanna Company's Indian purchase at Albany, in 1754. Nearly to 
this line ranges of towns five miles square were granted and surveyed ; the five 
most western in M'Kean County, named Lorana, Conde, Turrenne, Newtown, 
and Addison, are designated. * 

4. The Western Reserve, or New Connecticut, in Ohio, being one hundred 
and twenty miles in length, the width of the Connecticut charter claim, con- 
firmed to that State on the final adjustment of western land claims ; the United 
States having accepted the cession from Connecticut of the territory west to the 
Mississippi. Five hundred thousand acres of this reservation, called " Fire 
Lands," were granted to New London, Fairfield, Norwark, and other towns burnt 
by the enemy. The remainder, being sold, is the source of the noble school 
fund of that State. 

5. About seven millions of acres of the beautiful Genessee country, being, 
with slight reservations, all the territory in New York, west from a line be- 
ginning at the eighty-second mile-stone from the Delaware, on the northern 
boundary of Pennsylvania, running north to the British possessions — confirmed, 
by compromise between New York and Massachusetts in 17S6, to the latter 
State — together with 230,400 acres east of that line. — From Miner's History of 
Wyoming 



2 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The charters granted by English sovereigns to Connecticut 
and Pennsylvania, and from which the early troubles of this 
section of country arose, were based on the assumed right of 
possession in virtue of the discovery of its shores by Sebastian 
Cabot, who first sailed from England under commission of 
Henry VII. May, 1497. 

A few years later, voyagers from France, in the service of its 
sovereign, also made discoveries and took possession in the 
name of Francis I.; and, thereafter, the French sovereigns 
claimed a part of the territory which England held as her own. 

In 1603, Henry IV. of France having granted to Sieur de 
Monts the country called Acadia, extending from the 40th to 
the 46th degree of north latitude, James I. of England became 
alarmed at the encroachments upon English claims, and, in 
1606, divided that portion of North America which lies between 
the 34th and 45th degrees, into two nearly equal districts ; 
granting the southern part to a company of London merchants 
— to whom Sir Walter Raleigh had transferred the patent ob- 
tained from Queen Elizabeth — and the northern to another 
corporation called the Plymouth Company. From 38° to 41° 
the same was granted to both ; but, wherever the one made a 
settlement, the other might not settle within 100 miles. 1 

In 1607, the Plymouth Company attempted a settlement at 
the mouth of the Kennebec, but it was abandoned after a few 
months. 

November, 1620, James I. incorporated the "Grand Council 
of Plymouth, for planting and governing New England in 
America;" and granted to the persons constituting it, all that 
tract of North America lying between the 40th and 48th degrees 
of north latitude, in its whole extent "from sea to sea," except- 
ing only such land as might already be in possession of another 
Christian prince. The Council were authorized to convey or 
assign "such particular portions of said lands to such subjects, 
adventurers, or planters, as they should think proper." 

In 1631, a deed from the Earl of Warwick, then president 
of the Plymouth Council, conveyed to Lord Say and Seal, Lord 
Brooke and others, that part of New England afterwards pur- 
chased from them by the colony of Connecticut. Now, " though 
the right of soil had passed from the Crown by the original 
grant, the powers of government were considered of a nature 
so sacred, they could only be derived directly from the king ;" 
consequently, in 1662, Charles II. renewed and confirmed the 
charter to Connecticut, distinctly recognizing it as a part and 
parcel of the old Plymouth grant. The tract patented to Con- 
necticut extended " from Narragansett River 120 miles on a 

1 U. S. History. Mrs. Willard. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 3 

straight line, near the shore towards the southwest, as the coast 
lies towards Virginia, and within that breadth from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the South Sea." This measurement would bring the 
southern limit of Connecticut nearly or quite to the 41st de- 
gree of north latitude; and, "that these boundaries included 
Wyoming, has never, that we are aware of, been controverted. 1 

In 1661, the Dutch, who had settled on the Hudson more than 
fifty years previous, and who claimed the land from the Con- 
necticut River to the Delaware, were conquered by the English, 
and their territory was given to the Duke of York (afterwards 
James II.), the king's brother. 

The charter- to Connecticut had included an exception in 
favor of the Dutch, their land never having been vested in the 
Crown previous to this conquest ; 2 and, in 1650, articles of 
agreement respecting the eastern line of their possessions had 
been made between them and Connecticut. But, because this 
line, as agreed upon in 1664, was pronounced "the western 
bounds of the colony of Connecticut," as it was the eastern of 
the Duke's patent, the plea was afterwards made by Pennsyl- 
vania, that Connecticut had relinquished all claims to lands 
west of the Delaware; though these were distinctly included 
within the charter of 1662. 

" Now there were no opposite or adverse claims, in 1664, as to the western 
land. No foreign nation had any pretensions to it. The Duke did not and 
could not claim it, the Delaware being expressly made his western limit. 
The king gave no intimation that he was dissatisfied with his own grant of 
it to Connecticut." 1 

The commissioners, therefore, who were appointed to mark 
the division line between the Duke and Connecticut, had nothing 
to do or to determine about lands ivest of this patent. 

But, as his territory fell again into the hands of the Dutch, 
and was afterwards restored to the British, a new charter was 
issued to the Duke of York. This occasioned a fresh dispute 
between him and Connecticut ; but the line between this colony 
and his possessions was finally adjusted in 1683-85, as it now 
remains. 

In that part of America claimed by England, three requisites 
were demanded to render title to lands perfect : First, a grant or 
charter from the king; Secondly, a purchase of the soil from 
the Indians ; Thirdly, possession. 1 

That the steps taken on the part of Connecticut respecting 
the lands within her charter west of the Delaware may be seen 
in connection with the action of the Government of Pennsyl- 
vania, the following dates are given side by side: — 

1 See Miner's History of Wyoming. * Chapman. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Titles to land west of the Delaware included in the 42° of north latitude, 
and extending from that river to a north and south line 110 miles west of the 
Susquehanna River : — 



Connecticut. 
1662. Charter from Charles II. 
1754. Purchase from the Indians. 
1762. Settlement at Wyoming. 



Pennsylvania. 
1681. Charter from Charles II. 

1768. Purchase from the Indians. 

1769. Settlement at Wyoming. 



There is no dispute as to the above facts and figures ; and, to 
the casual reader, nothing more would seem necessary to make 
clear the validity of the Connecticut claim. To explain how 
Pennsylvania claimed to prove her right to the land above the 
Blue Mountains, a few more dates must be given : — ■ 



Connecticut Claims. 

1662. Pre-emption rights with char- 
ter, the grant extending " from the 
Narragansett River to the South 
Sea." 

1753. Formation of the "Connec- 
ticut Susquehanna Company" (and, 
soon after, of the Connecticut Dela- 
ware Company), with a view to pur- 
chase the Indian title. 

1755. The Assembly of Connec- 
ticut " manifest their ready acquies- 
cence" in the purchase made by the 
Susquehanna Company, and "gave 
their consent for an application to 
His Majesty to erect them into a new 
colony." Surveyors sent out, but 
obliged to return because the Indians 
were at war with the French against 
the English. 

1769. Second settlement at Wyo- 
ming, by people of Connecticut, which, 
after varying success, at last became 
permanent. 

1782. The Decree of Trenton had 
reference solely to jurisdiction, and 
not to right of soil, which had passed 
from the government of Connecticut 
to the Susquehanna and Delaware 
Companies. 

The student in history is perhaps in nothing more puzzled 
than in the attempt to reconcile the successive grants of' differ- 
ent kings ; and, worse, those of the same king. An example 
of the former is seen by the patent from Charles I. to Lord 
Baltimore in 1632, which granted him the country from the 
Potomac to the 40th degree of north latitude ; thus, by a mere 
act of the crown (the rights and privileges of the London 

1 Argument of Mr. Pratt (afterwards Lord Camden), Attorney General to the 
Crown, in reply to a query of the Pennsylvania proprietaries. 



Pennsylvania Claims. 

1681. Charter to William Penn not 
given until " the eastern bounds of 
New York had been decided to be 
the western bounds of Connecticut, 
which restored the land beyond those 
settlements westward, to the Crown, 
and laid them open to a new grant." 1 

1736. Deed of the Indians which 
conveyed to Thomas and Richard 
Penn, the then proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania, the right of pre-emption of 
and in all the lands not before sold 
by them to the said proprietaries 
within the limits of their charter. 
" Said lands bounded on the north by 
the beginning of the 43° of north 
latitude," or where the figures 42 are 
marked on the map. 

1779. By an act of Legislature, 
the right of soil and estate of the late 
Proprietaries of Pennsylvania was 
vested in the Commonwealth. 

1782. The Decree of Trenton in 
favor of Pennsylvania. 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 5 

Company having been returned to it), what had long before 
been given to Virginia, was taken away ; as a part of what 
was granted to Lord Baltimore was subsequently given to 
William Penn. But of this the latter might well believe him- 
self innocent, since, when he petitioned for his charter, it was 
referred to the Attorney-General, Sir William Jones, who re- 
ported that it did not appear to intrench upon the boundaries 
of Lord Baltimore's province nor those of the Duke of York, 
" so that the tract of hind desired by Mr. Penn seems to be 
undisposed of by His Majesty; except the imaginary lines of 
New England patents, which are bounded westwardly by the 
main ocean, should give them a real, though impracticable, 
right to all those vast territories." 

Thus, in 1681, Charles II. granted to William Penn a charter 
of lands having the end of the 42d degree of north latitude 
for a northern boundary, thus overlapping by one degree the 
grant to Connecticut made nineteen years before by the same 
monarch. 

An answer to the claim of Pennsylvania under this date 
(1681) has been already given ; but Pennsylvania farther 
argued that, in 1761, one of the Connecticut governors, in 
reply to an inquiry of the king, stated: "The colony is 
bounded on the west by New York." This, however, was 
not the wording of the reply as adopted by the Assembly, 
which stated that the colony was bounded by their charter. 
The change had been made by the governor, without authority, 
and resulted in his political decapitation, though it is possible 
he answered with the idea that the king meant to inquire for 
the boundary of the occupied portion of the grant. 

Mr. Miner, in the 'History of Wyoming,' sums up other 
objections made by able writers in behalf of the Pennsylvania 
claims, as follows: — 

Objection first. That the Susquehanna Company never had a formal grant 
from the colony of Connecticut. 

Second. That the colony of Connecticut received nothing from the Com- 
pany as a consideration for those lands. 

Third. That the Company made their purchase from the Indians, contrary 
to the laws of Connecticut. 

Fourth. That the king, in 1763, forbade the settlement of territory. \. 

A remark taken from 'Day's Historical Collections' may bV 
in place here. 

"The different principles involved in the charter of the Connecticut 
colony and the province of Pennsylvania, necessarily produced an essential 
difference in the manner of acquiring the Indian title to the lands. In the 
colony, the right of pre-emption was vested in the people; and the different 
towns in Connecticut were settled at successive periods, by different bands 
of adventurers, who separately acquired the Indian title either by purchase 
or by conquest, and, in many instances, without the aid or the interference 



6 HISTOEY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of the Commonwealth. In the province, the pre-emption right was vested 
in William Penn, who made no grants of lands until the Indian title had 
been extinguished, and, consequently, the whole title was derived through 
the proprietaries." 

Mr. Miner continues : — 

"In reply to the first three objections, it may be said, also, to be a matter 
between the Susquehanna Company and the Colony or State ; the whole pro- 
ceedings of the Company having again and again received the most full and 
explicit recognition and confirmation from the Connecticut Government. 

"In reply to the fourth, it may be asked, After the king had granted the 
lands by charter, what authority had he reserved to forbid the settlement? 

" The authority to constitute a new power, or government, was reserved, 
and could not be communicated by the colony of Connecticut, although the 
latter might govern the new settlement as a part of itself while still a subject 
of Great Britain. 

"Again, Connecticut asserted that 'the Pennsylvania agents did not set 
forth a conveyance of the land from the natives ; but a deed of pre-emption, 
or a promise to convey at some future time.' " 

In December, 1773, commissioners on behalf of Connecti- 
cut wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania thus: — 

"It were easy to observe that the purchases from the Indians by the pro- 
prietaries, and the sales by them made, were they even more ancient than 
they are, could add no strength to the proprietary title, since the right of 
pre-emption of the natives was by the royal grant exclusively vested in the 
colony of Connecticut, and, consequently, those purchases and sales were 
equally without legal foundation." 

No purchase affecting the dispute between Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania had been made by the proprietaries prior to the 
treaty at. Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), in 1768. The Indians 
had already received two thousand pounds sterling from the 
Connecticut Susquehanna Company for the lands which they 
then resold to Pennsylvania. 

The Rev. Jacob Johnson, then a missionary to the Oneidas, 
and afterwards the first minister in Wilkes-Barre, testified, that 
the Indians agreed to give Gov. Penn a deed, "because Sir 
William Johnson had told them that their former conveyance 
to the New England people was unlawful," and "because the 
commissioners urged that the Connecticut people had done 
wrong in coming over the line of Pennsylvania to buy land of 
the Indians." 

But we never hear of the return of the two thousand pounds. 
The sale had been made at Albany, in 1754, in open council, 
and at a time when delegates from Pennsylvania made efforts 
to induce the chiefs to sell them the Wyoming lands — one 
hundred and twenty by seventy miles, the Susquehanna Com- 
pany purchase — to which they steadily refused to accede. 
Beloved as William Penn had been by the natives, the pro- 
prietaries were by no means favorites with the Six Nations 
(admitted by all to be the original owners of the land), and, 




a> 



SHOWING THE VARIOtS PURCHASES 

JMSSE JWKM ]IE JMMANS ACo 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 7 

for the reason that they had declined to recognize the Delawares 
as the subjects of the Six Nations, but had persisted in regard- 
ing them as an independent people ; and, as such, making 
treaties and purchasing land of them. (See Miner.) They 
owed them a grudge, too, on account of the " Walking Pur- 
chase," of 1737, with which every student of Pennsylvania 
history is supposed to be familiar. 

But the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, after their return 
to Philadelphia at that time, reported having held a private 
treaty, and having purchased lands between the Blue Moun- 
tains and the forks of the Susquehanna (Fort Augusta, or 
Sunbury), which was, of course, below the tract sold to the 
Connecticut people. 



CHAPTER II. 

INDIANS. 



In Susquehanna County, except along the river in Harmony, 
Oakland, and Great Bend, traces of the original proprietors of 
the soil are not very frequent. The reader is referred to the 
annals of those townships for details respecting them. In the 
vicinity of Apolacon and Tuscarora Creeks, numerous arrow- 
heads have been found, and, in other localities, other imple- 
ments of the Indians. (See Apolacon, Auburn, Silver Lake, 
Herrick, etc.) A stone pestle with the head of a squirrel 
carved on it, now in possession of Eev. H. A. Riley, was found 
on the farm of the late Judge Lathrop, in Bridgewater. 

It is stated, in ' Baton's Geography of Pennsylvania,' that the 
Tuscarora Indians, on their emigration northward, made this 
region their residence for a number of years; it is known they 
had a village near Lanesboro. 

The Delawares, who inhabited the country about Deposit, 
derived their supply of salt from this county. (See Mineral 
Resources.) 

It appears that the two most noted salt springs in our county 
had been worked by Indians; and, respecting the one near 
Silver Creek, a legend is preserved that lends a charm to the 
spot, now rifled of its pristine wildness and beauty by the hand 
of modern enterprise. Many of our citizens will recall the 
scenery described in 1832, by a writer in the ' Montrose Vol- 
unteer' : — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



SALT SPRING LEGEND. 

"Previous to the massacre of Wyoming, this whole extent of country was 
overrun by Indians, along the course of the Susquehanna. A roving band 
had succeeded in capturing a white man, named Rosbach, after he had killed 
two or three of them ; his wife and children escaped, but he, though wounded 
and bleeding on the threshold, was doomed to perish at the stake. They 
were compelled to make a march to elude pursuit from the whites, and at 
length reached and followed up the course of a stream, to avoid leaving a 
track ; and in their progress passed close beside the mineral spring. What 
the appearance of the spot was then, it is not difficult to conceive at present, 
since a clearing of a few acres, an old log-house, and the tottering frame 
used for boring for salt water, is all that remains to tell that the hand of 
man has been here. The view in the clearing is not uncommon — a stream 
of silvery flow and murmur, a high hill and the forest — but, by following up 
the western creek that here meets one from the north, a wild glen opens un- 
surpassed among our hills. 

" It was night when the Indians and their captive reached this hidden valley, 
but they passed on, after drinking of the spring, to the greater concealment 
of the ravine beyond. Conceive them as they enter — the party of a dozen 
half-naked savages, leading, threatening, and at times supporting the droop- 
ing form of the white hunter as he toils through the water tinged with his 
blood. On either side, the beetling rocks hang a hundred feet overhead, 
crowned with high columns of the old forest trees. The water, though not 
abundant, yet produces a series of beautiful cascades, leaping over irregular 
ledges of rock, and gathering at intervals in basins, clear as the purest crys- 
tal. As the leafy dome above closes heavy and compact in the darkness, 
the party reach the first cascade ; they clamber over the rock and find 
another basin, deeper, darker, and more secluded than the first. Here they 
pause. 

"At a safe distance the hunter's wife has dogged their path, and now 
watches from the cliff above. In the recess on the right they light their fire. 
A little apart, the white man is bound to a sapling ; the captors are seated ; 
the pipe is passed; they are fed, and the hour of vengeance is nigh. At 
this moment an owl, startled by the fire, shrieks so discordantly, that even 
the warriors quiver at the sound. Succeeding this horrid scream, a voice 
of exquisite clearness chanted, in the native language, a war- song of the 
Oneidas : — 

' The northern eagle scents his prey, 

His beak with blood shall drip to-day, 

The Oneida's foot is on thy track 

His spoils are won ere he turns back.' 

"Before the verse was completed, the Indians had extinguished their fire, 
and at its conclusion they yelled back the war-whoop of defiance, for the 
Oneidas were in coalition with the whites. A huge rock came thundering 
down the precipice — then another, and another — vexing the air; and amid 
the echo and gloom, a hand rested on the shoulder of Rosbach, and in his 
ear was whispered, 'Robert, do you hear me?' ' Emmeline ! my wife ! Oh, 
God !' 

"In a moment she cut the withe that bound him, and, as the surprised 
party had left the bed of the stream, she led him down to where the spring 
issued from its side. His strength is exhausted, his head sinks upon her 
bosom, and he is a corpse. 

" After concealing his body among the rocks, she resumed her journey 
toward the river, and at length reached friends, whose joy upon her return 
was changed to sadness, as she bade them seek the remains of her husband 
beneath the shadow of the mountain that overhangs the mineral spring." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTEK III. 

WESTMORELAND AND THE PENNAMITE WARS. 

Although the section now embraced in Susquehanna Coun- 
ty was without a settlement until the close of the Pennamite 
wars of Wyoming, and until the "town and county of West- 
moreland" had ceased to exist, our history is still closely con- 
nected with them. The events of the period to which they 
belong are given in detail by Chapman, Miner, and others, 
from whose works a synopsis is given here, prefaced by the 
following remark from Dr. Hollister's "History of the Lacka- 
wanna Valley " : — 

" While Wyoming, in its limited signification, now gives name to a valley 
(about twenty miles in length and three or four in width) unsurpassed for the 
beauty of its scenery or the romance of its history, it was formerly used in a 
more enlarged sense to designate all the country purchased of the Indians 
by the New England men, in 1754, lying in what is now known as Luzerne, 
Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Wayne Counties." (A large part of Bradford 
should also be included in this statement.) 

The territory of Susquehanna County was included in the 
Connecticut Delaware Company's purchase, which extended 
from the Delaware Eiver within the 42d degree of north lati- 
tude, west to the line of the Susquehanna Company's purchase; 
or to within ten miles of the Susquehanna River after it enters 
the State the second time. In 1755, the Delaware Company 
began a settlement at Coshetunk. 

The greater portion of the purchases made by the two com- 
panies was included in the county named by Pennsylvania, 
Northumberland, then comprising a vast area, from Northamp- 
ton County (now Wayne and Pike Counties) to the Alleghany 
River. Luzerne, Mifflin, Lycoming, Centre, Columbia, and 
Union Counties, in their original extent, with the present area 
of Northumberland, comprised the Northumberland, which was 
separated from Berks and Bedford in 1772. 

The Pennamite wars comprised the struggles of Connecticut 
settlers to retain possession of the Wyoming lands which they 
had purchased from the Susquehanna Company; but which 
were claimed also by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, who 
were bent upon securing either the recognition of their own 
claim, or the ejection of the settlers. Between one and two 
hundred persons came from Connecticut, August, 1762, and 
began a settlement in Wyoming, a little above the Indian 



10 HISTOBY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

village of this name, but the massacre of twenty of them by 
the Delawares, the following year, and the expulsion of the 
remainder, discouraged any further effort for nearly seven 
years. 

At no period until 1772, were there more than three hun- 
dred Connecticut men on the ground at one time. 

It must not be supposed that peaceful measures were not first 
resorted to by settlers, before pitting themselves against a 
superior force. In May, 1769, Col. Dyer and Major Elderkin 
went to Philadelphia and submitted to Benj. Chew, agent for 
the proprietaries — a proposition to have the matter in dispute 
between the Susquehanna Company and the proprietaries, 
referred either to a court of law or to referees to be mutually 
chosen by the parties, and in either case the decision to be 
conclusive. But Pennsylvania would in no wise recognize 
the Connecticut claim. Thirteen years later such a court ivas 
convened; but, had the first proposition been acted upon, how 
much bloodshed and misery would have been avoided ! 

The first Pennamite war extended over a period of three 
years — from February, 1769, to September, 1771 ; during which 
the "Yankees" had been expelled five times, but as often re- 
newed the contest, and with ultimate victory. The close of 
1771 found the Susquehanna Company in full possession. In 
1772, Wilkes-Barre 1 was laid out near Fort Wyoming, which 
the settlers had taken under Col. Durkee, who had command in 
1769. 

In 1773, the government of Connecticut, which, up to this 
time, had left the Susquehanna and Delaware companies to 
manage their own affairs, now decided to make its claim to 
all the lands within the charter, west of the province of New 
York, and in a legal manner to support the same. Com- 
missioners appointed by the assembly proceeded to Philadel- 
phia "to negotiate a mode of bringing the controversy to an 
amicable conclusion." But every proposition offered by them 
was declined by the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania, 
who saw no way to prevent a repetition of the troubles in 
Wyoming, except by the settlers evacuating the lands until a 
legal decision could be obtained. 

In the mean time the people had accepted articles, framed by 
the Susquehanna Company, at Hartford, Conn., June 2, 1773, 
for the government of the settlement, and acknowledged them 
to be of force until the colony of Connecticut should annex 

1 The name Wilkes-Barre, commonly written with but one capital, was given 
in honor of the celebrated John Wilkes and Col. Barre, both members of the 
British Parliament, aird both of whom took a decided part in favor of America, 
against the measures of the British ministry. 




ESTMORELAND. 

H ^ Showing the ^ -""^ 

CONNECnCUT sum^EYS. 



T. Sinclair, lith. EhilaxU 




JY?& 



J 







Permis eion . 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 11 

them to one of its counties, or make them a distinct county; 
or until they should obtain, either from the colony, or from 
"His Gracious Majesty, King George the Third," a more 
permanent or established mode of government. " Bat his 
majesty soon had weightier matters to decide with his American 
subjects, which were settled by his acknowledgment of their 
Independence." 

On the report of the Commissioners to the Assembly of 
Connecticut, after their return from Philadelphia, decisive 
measures were adopted by the Assembly to bring the settlement 
on the Susquehanna under their immediate jurisdiction. An 
act was passed early in January, 1774, erecting all the territory 
within her charter limits, from the river Delaware to a line 
fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, into a town with all the 
corporate powers of other towns of the colony, to be called 
Westmoreland, attaching it to the county of Litchfield. The 
town was seventy miles square, and was divided into townships 
five miles square, though those townships comprised within the 
Connecticut Delaware purchase were, for the most part, six 
miles square. 

Explanation of Map of Y/estmoreland— Connecticut Surveys. 

The towns marked with a star, thus *, within the Susquehanna Company's 
purchase, namely, Huntington, Salem, Plymouth, Kingston, Newport, Hanover, 
Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Providence, Exeter, Bedford, Northumberland, Putnam 
or Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Springfield, Claverack, Ulster, are designated in 
ancient Pennsylvania proceedings as " The seventeen towns occupied or acquir- 
ed by Connecticut claimants before the Decree of Trenton," and were, with the 
addition of Athens, confirmed to Connecticut claimants by the Compromising 
Law of April 4, 1799, and its several supplements. 

The Delaware Company's Indian purchases comprised the land west from the 
Delaware River to the line within ten miles of the Susquehanna. 

The Susquehanna Company's Indian purchase at Albany (1754), extended 
from the line ten miles east of the river, one hundred and twenty miles west, 
and included the chief parts of M'Kean and Elk counties. 

Ranges of towns, west of our map, were granted and surveyed (some as late 
as 1805) embracing more than a million of acres ; the most western on the 
State line being in M'Kean County. But we have deemed it useful to give 
place only to those wherein, or in the neighborhood of which, the New England 
people commenced settlements. 

Allensburg, on the Wyalusing, was a grant to Gen. Ethan Allen of Vermont, 
of several thousand acres, for his expected aid in the grand scheme of treason 
and rebellion, as it was designated by one party, and of just resistance to 
unendurable oppression, as it was regarded by the other, in 1787. It is sup- 
posed he derived no value from the grant. 

The square townships in the Delaware purchase contain 23,000 acres. 
Those in the Susquehanna purchase, being five miles square, contain 16,000 
acres. 

Bozrah, on the Lackawaxen, shows the compact part of the " Lackawa" 
settlement, and was the birthplace of the Hon. George W. Woodward. 

The mark in Usher (lot No. 39), three miles west from Mont-Rose, designates 
the place of the author's bark cabin, where, in the spring of 1799, then a lad 



12 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

From the date of the act mentioned above until after the 
Decree at Trenton — nine years — the laws of Connecticut were 
exercised over the "town" in full force. Accounts of their 
operation were comprised in what is called the 'Westmoreland 
Records,' now unfortunately not obtainable, having been either 
lost or destroyed. 

In the mean time, November, 1775, a General Congress of 
Representatives from all the Colonies was assembled at Phila- 
delphia to consult upon measures of mutual defence against 
the British forces ; when, in reply to an application of the Wyo- 
ming settlers for protection, Congress had recommended the 
contending States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania to cease 
hostilities immediately, and that settlers should behave them- 
selves peaceably in their respective claims, until a legal deci- 
sion could be rendered in regard to their dispute ; but it was 
expressly stipulated, that nothing in this "recommendation" 
should be construed into prejudice of the claim of either party. 
Plunket's expedition " to restore peace and good order in 
Wyoming," then on foot, was not, however, countermanded ; 
but, failing to effect an entrance into the valley, his troops 
returned down th.e Susquehanna. This was the last military 
enterprise ever undertaken by the provincial government of 
Pennsylvania. 

The Revolutionary War was begun and ended without the 
aid of a single man drawn from the country now constituting 
Susquehanna County ; as not a civilized inhabitant was then 
within her borders. But that part of Westmoreland in the 

Explanation of Map of Westmoreland — Continued. 

of nineteen, assisted by Mr. John Chase (the pleasant bar-keeper at Wilson's 
Hotel, Harrisbnrg), he commenced a clearing. 

The mark further west in Usher shows the boyhood residence, in 1800, of the 
Hon. Andrew Beaumont. 

The designation of "Barnum," at Lawsville, in the town of Cunningham, 
shows the log-cabin tavern (1800) of that prince of hotel keepers, afterwards 
of Baltimore. 

The triangle marked "Hyde," west of Usher, indicates the head-qnarters of 
Col. Ezekiel Hyde, Yankee leader in the Delaware purchase in 1800. Also the 
store of Enoch Reynolds, Esq. (in 1799), afterwards at the head of one of the 
Bureaus in the Treasury Department, at Washington, for many years ; and 
since, till his decease, the residence of Judge Jabez Hyde. 

To avoid embarrassing the map by the insertion of too many names, letters 
are placed in Wilkes-Barre, Exeter, and Pittston, as points of reference, and 
their explanation is made here. A, Fort Durkee ; B, Fort Wyoming ; C, Fort 
Ogden ; D, Wintennoot's Fort ; E, Jenkin's Fort ; F, three Pittston Forts ; Gr, 
Monockacy Island. 

After years of search, two maps only of those Connecticut Surveys could be 
found. Our efforts probably have rescued them from oblivion.' 



1 From 'Miner's History of Wyoming.' In accordance with a more minute and 
accurate survey (see Map of Manor) we have altered the relative positions of 
Montrose and that of individuals. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 13 

vicinity of Wilkes-Barre furnished, on the first call, two com- 
panies, and these, with individuals afterwards enlisted, amount- 
ed to nearly three hundred men given to the Continental service. 
It was this drain upon the new settlement that left it so unpro- 
tected at the time of the massacre by Indians and tories on 
the memorable 3d of July, 1778. The reader is referred to 
the graphic descriptions of Chapman, Stone, Miner, Peck, and 
others, for full accounts of that distressful time. Patriots of 
the Eevolutionary contest have since honored our country by 
a residence within it, and their remains hallow our soil ; while 
descendants and relatives of those who fell in the Wyoming- 
massacre are still among us. 

Fifteen days after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, a petition 
was presented to Congress " from the Supreme Executive Coun- 
cil of Pennsylvania, stating a matter in dispute between the 
said State and the State of Connecticut, respecting sundry lands 
lying on the east branch of the river Susquehanna, and praying 
a hearing in the premises, agreeable to the ninth article of the 
Confederation." Arrangements to this effect were made, and 
one year later, November 12, 1782, a court composed of five 
commissioners convened at Trenton, who, after a sitting of 
forty-one judicial days, in which the parties, represented by 
their counsel (four gentlemen on behalf of Pennsylvania, and 
three agents from Connecticut), had proceeded with their pleas, 
gave their decision in these few and astounding words : — 

" We are unanimously of the opinion that Connecticut has no right to the 
lands in controversy. 

" We are also unanimously of opinion, that the jurisdiction and pre-emp- 
tion of all the territory lying within the charter of Pennsylvania, and now 
claimed by the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Penn- 
sylvania." 

Thus, with the close of 1782, and the Trenton decree, the 
jurisdiction of Connecticut ceased. Before that decree, the 
court had expressly stated that the right of soil did not come 
before them, and thus the settlers were content to be transferred 
from one State to the jurisdiction of another; but events soon 
made it apparent that expulsion, or the entire abandonment of 
their possessions was to be preliminary to any adjustment of 
existing difficulties. The land had been purchased by Penn- 
sylvania speculators, 1 while it was occupied by those who held 
it under title from the Susquehanna Company; and the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania, by its commissioners appointed in 1783, 

1 The landholders who stimulated the Assembly to unjust measures against 
the Wyoming people, were generally claimants under leases from the proprieta- 
ries, or warrants of 1784. The landholders under warrants of 1793 and 1794 — 
the Tilghmans, Drinkers, Francises, etc., are in no respect implicated in the 
censure. — Miner. 



14 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

to inquire into the circumstances of the "Wyoming inhabitants, 
expressly declared: " It cannot be supposed that Pennsylvania 
will, nor can she consistent with her constitution, by any ex- 
post facto law, deprive her citizens of any portion of their pro- 
perty legally obtained." This of course, implied the loss to the 
Connecticut settlers of all they had paid to the Susquehanna 
Company, in favor of prior " citizens" of Pennsylvania who 
had "legally obtained" possession of the land. This was the 
origin of the second Pennamite war, which fortunately extended 
over only one year — 1784 — and resulted in the restoration to 
the "Yankees" of the lands from which they had been cruelly 
driven during the spring of that year. 

The years 1785 and 1786 were marked by renewed activity 
among the holders of lands under the Connecticut title, Col. 
John Franklin being the leading spirit among them ; while, on 
the other side, Col. Timothy Pickering had been appointed by 
Pennsylvania to introduce her laws and support her claims in 
Wyoming. "Col. P. had executed with fidelity and approba- 
tion, the office of Quartermaster-General of the army. A native 
of Massachusetts, after the peace he had settled at Philadel- 
phia." [See Franklin and Harmony.] "But the first healing 
measure adopted by the State of Pennsylvania was the erection 
of the county of Luzerne from Northumberland in 1786, " to 
give the people an efficient representation in the Council and 
Assembly, so that their voice might be heard, their interests 
explained, and their influence fairly appreciated." Col. P. was 
appointed Prothonotary, Clerk of the Peace, Clerk of the 
Orphans' Court, Eegister and Recorder, for the county. 

"A crisis was depending of the highest moment, pregnant 
with civil war and revolution. A constitution for a new State 
was actually drawn up, the purpose being to wrest Wyoming 
and the old county of Westmoreland from the jurisdiction of 
Pennsylvania, and establish a new and independent government, 
as Vermont was established in despite of New York." Col. 
Franklin would not take the oath of fidelity to Pennsylvania, 
nor accept (at that time) a post of official importance to which 
he had been chosen with a view to conciliate the one whose 
opposition was the most bitter. Even the famous Gen. Ethan 
Allen, from Vermont, appears upon the scene as one pledged to 
furnish men and means towards the establishment of the new 
State ; but the arrest of Franklin on a charge of high treason, 
and his subsequent long confinement in prison, put a quietus to 
the project. 

Luzerne County, in 1786, included all the New England 
emigrants, except those in the ancient Lackawack settlement, 
and a few on the Delaware, being one hundred and twenty 
miles north and south, or from the mouth of the Nescopec to 



f=L. ? 



i> 



J; 



^ 



m 




• <4 



miles north and south, or from the mouth of the Nescopec to 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 15 

the north. line of the State, on which its extent was from the 
sixth mile-stone to a point fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna 
Eiver where it enters the State a second time. The relative 
position of what is now Susquehanna County, is given on the 
accompanying map of Old Luzerne; for more than a quarter 
of a century all of her settlers were amenable to the courts held 
at Wilkes-Barre. What privation and inconvenience this occa- 
sioned the remote inhabitants of Willi ngboro' (Great Bend) 
and Nine Partners (Harford), one can only imagine when taking 
into consideration the want of roads, and the peril of traveling u - 
through the then literally howling wilderness. Doubtless, the 
difficulty of executing justice often permitted lawlessness of 
certain kinds, when either to enter a complaint or serve a writ 
involved a formidable outlay of time and courage in over- 
coming distance, as well as physical obstacles. A story is told 
of the late Judge Hyde, who, when sheriff of Luzerne County, 
came on horseback from Wilkes-Barre to Silver Lake, more 
than fifty miles, to serve a jury notice, and received for his fee 
the sum of twenty-five cents. 

It was at the suggestion of Col. Pickering that a large num- 
ber of the people united in a petition, setting forth that 
seventeen townships, of five miles square, bad been located by 
the Connecticut settlers before the Trenton decree, and the lots 
averaging 300 acres had been set off specifically to settlers and 
proprietors; and praying that these might be confirmed : where- 
upon the Assembly, on the 28th of March, 1787, passed the 
Confirming Law — an act " for ascertaining and confirming to 
certain persons called Connecticut claimants, the lands by them 
claimed within the county of Luzerne," etc. This allowed 
to Pennsylvania claimants an equivalent, at their option, in 
the old or new State purchases. The act was suspended by an 
act of March 29, 1788, and finally condemned and repealed by 
an act of 1st April, 1790, being called " unconstitutional," as 
inflicting a wrong upon Pennsylvania claimants. 

But, since it was only just that the persons complying with 
the provisions of the act of March 28, 1787. while the law was 
in existence, should be entitled to the benefit of the same ; it 
was enacted, March 9, 1796, that the board of property ascer- 
tain from the documents placed in the Secretary's office what 
sums ought to be allowed to the respective owners, and that 
"the Eeceiver-general shall thereupon deliver a certificate of 
such sum or sums to the respective own ■■■;: and enter a credit 
in his books for the same, which may 1 r sferred to any per- 

son, and passed as credit." Claimants 3nsated under this 

act, were obliged to release to the c< mwealth their res- 

pective claims to the lands in question, .>re receiving cerlifi- 



16 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

cates to the foregoing effect; the latter were sometimes styled 
" Wyoming credits." 

In 1795, the Intrusion Law warned off all settlers not apply- 
ing for land under a Pennsylvania title. 

April 4, 1799, an act for offering compensation to the Penn- 
sylvania claimants of certain lands within the seventeen town- 
ships of Luzerne, often spoken of as the " certified" townships, 
was passed, and is known as the Compromising Law. 

April 1, 1805, redemption of certificates under act of March 
9, 1796, was commenced. 

At the period when the Confirming Law was passed, the 
State was proprietor of a large portion of the lands so con- 
firmed to the settler, and the result has been that with one ex- 
ception, the government of Pennsylvania has refused to recog- 
nize an}'- right in warrant holders, whose titles originated 
in the seventeen townships after the Confirming Law. Bat 
settlers within the limits of what is now Susquehanna County, 
could not come within the provisions of that law, since they 
were outside of the seventeen townships to which it was limited ; 
how then could they expect any title to hold good, except one 
derived from the State of Pennsylvania? And all the more 
was this expectation foolish, after the passage of the Intru- 
sion and the Compromising Laws. "By the latter law all 
Pennsylvania claims to lands in the seventeen townships, 
which originated before the date of the Confirming Law, 
were to be paid for by the State, and Connecticut claimants 
were to pay for lands of the first class $2 00 per acre, of the 
second, $1 20; of the third, fifty cents: of the fourth, eight 
and a half cents. And those claims under Connecticut within 
townships on which settlement had been made after the Trenton 
Decree, then numerous and rapidly increasing, threatening wide 
and extended mischief, forthwith fell before this act of mingled 
policy and justice." But the "Yankees" were hard to be con- 
vinced. With them, might did not make right; and the fact 
that the United States (and Pennsylvania by her vote) accepted 
from Connecticut, about the year 1800, a formal release of all 
claim to jurisdiction or soil, west of the eastern limits of New 
York, excepting to that of the Western Eeserve ; and granted 
letters patent for that tract, served but to corroborate her claim. 
By this act, Congress recognized the right of Connecticut west 
of New York, and the Hon. Charles Miner pertinently asks : 
"How could she have a right west of Pennsylvania, and not 
through Pennsylvania, when her charter was nineteen years the 
oldest?" 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 17 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INTRUSION LAW. 

An act of Assembly, passed April 11, 1795, was designed 
c< to prevent intrusions on lands within the counties of North- 
ampton, Northumberland, and Luzerne." The first section 
reads : — 

" If any person shall, after the passing of this act, take possession of, enter, 
intrude, or settle on any lands" within the limits of the counties aforesaid. 
" by virtue or under color of any conveyance of half share right, or any other 
pretended title, not derived from the authority of this commonwealth, or of 
the late proprietaries of Pennsylvania, before the Revolution, such persons 
upon being duly convicted thereof, upon indictment in any Court of Oyer 
and Terminer, or Court of General Quarter Sessions, to be held in the proper 
county, shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars, one half to the 
use of the county, and the other half to the use of the informer ; and shall 
also be subject to such imprisonment, not exceeding twelve months, as the 
court, before whom such conviction is had, may, in their discretion, direct." 

The second section of this act provided punishment for 
combinations to convey, possess, and settle under pretended 
titles — payment of " not less than five hundred, nor more than 
one thousand dollars," and " imprisonment at hard labor not 
exceeding eighteen months." 

This act went no further, verbally, than to make intrusions 
punishable — prohibition being only implied. 

An act supplementary to this, passed February 16, 1801, 
authorized the governor (sect, xi.) to issue his proclamation, 

" Forbidding all future intrusions, and enjoining and requiring all persons 
who have intruded contrary to the provisions of the act to which this act 
is supplementary, to withdraw peaceably from the lands whereon such intru- 
sions have been made; and enjoining or requiring all officers of government, 
and all good citizens of the commonwealth, to prevent, or prosecute by all 
legal means, such intrusions and intruders," etc. 

April 6, 1802, an act of Assembly provided that "no convey- 
ance of land within the counties of Luzerne, Lycoming, and 
Wayne, shall pass any estate where the title is not derived from 
this State or the proprietaries before the 4th of July, 1776." 
It imposed a penalty upon any judge or justice for receiving 
proof of, or recorder for recording, a deed of a different de- 
scription. "No person interested in the Connecticut title to act 
as judge or juror, in any cause where said title may come in 
question," ete. An exception was made in favor of the inhabi- 
tants of the seventeen toivnships, only as far as related to judges, 



18 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



sheriffs, or jurors. This law was required to be made known 
by a proclamation from the governor, and took effect May 1, 
1802. 

From that date, whatever " right" persons may have had 
under titles derived from Connecticut, it was sheer folly to 
defend. But all the overtures of the State were still' scorned 
by many, as we learn from the Luzerne Federalist of January, 
1803, which stated: — 

" In the district of Rindaw (Rush) one hundred and fifty persons not only 
avowedly, but firmly and positively, believe in the Connecticut title and no 
other. In Willingboro (Great Bend) perhaps thirty. But in all the districts 
nearer two thousand than one thousand could be found who would risk their 
all in defence of their Connecticut title, if Pennsylvania ever attempts to 
drive them off by force of arms." 

Newspaper controversy upon the subject was particularly 
rife that year, but extended over a much longer period. 

The following letters of Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, a large holder of 
lands in this section, under title derived from the State of Pennsylvania, 
reveal the intrusion on his tracts. 

"Philadelphia, 5 mo. 22d, 1801. 
"Respected Friend, 

Abram Hoene, Esq. 

" There are in the hands of Timothy Pickering, Esq., two maps, one of them 
of a considerable body of lands situate on the waters of Tunkhannock Creek 
and extending to the head waters of Salt Lick Creek ; the other represents 
lands bounding on the State line between this State and New York, and to 
the eastward of the Susquehanna — these maps Col. Pickering has promised 
to deliver thee when called for. 

" I now deliver herewith a map of a large body of lands, principally on and 
near the waters of Meshoppen Creek, and including branches of Wyalusing, 
Tuscarora, and Tunkhannock. 

"The townships laid out by the companies (Connecticut) are distinguished 
by dotted lines, which may be of some use to thee in traversing that country. 
I have also obtained the names of about 50 settlers from Connecticut, etc., 
and the parts they are settled on : tho' there may be some variation as to 
the particular tracts they occupy, yet I presume the following statement 
may be nearly right, viz : — 





No. 




No. 


Town of Usher. 




Dan Metcalf, 


242 


Ebenezer Whipple, 


157, 






Abner Griffith, 


156, 


Auburn. 




Solomon Griffith, 


156, 107 


Lloyd Goodsell, 




Holden Sweet, 


156 


Myron Kasson, 




James Carl (Carroll?), 


158 


Charles Morey, 




Samuel Maine, 


107, 108 


Ezekiel Morey, 




Mecom Maine, 


107, 108 


John Passmore, 




Ezekiel Maine, 


107, 108 


John Robinson, 




Nathan Tupper, 


204 






William Lathrop, 


208 


Dandoloe. 




Erastus Bingham, 


204, 205 


Eldad Brewster, 


53 


Eli Billings, 


205, 206 


Elias West, 


52, 54 


Ezekiel Hyde (an im 




Crocker, 


50, 51 


provement), 


207 


Joseph Chapman, 


46 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



19 



Manor. 

Jeremiah Mecom, 63, 105 

Otis Robinson, ditto. 

David Harris, 66, 

Ozem Cook, 67, 68 

Henry Cook, 67, 68 

Amos Perry, 67, 68 

George Morey, 100, 101 

Ichabod Halsey, 104. 

Nehemiah Maine, 104, 

Otis Robinson, 104, 

Ezekiel Maine, Jr., 106, 107 
107, 108 

Foster. 

David Dowd, southerly 

part of Manor. 
Andrew Lisk. southerly 

part of Manor. 

Chebur. 

Thomas Parke, 1 perhaps in Bid- 
Harry Parke, j well. 



Martin Myers 

Capt. Joseph Chapman 

Ezekiel Morey 



No. 



New Milford. 1 






John Hussey 


214, 


264 


Daniel Kinney, Jr. 




215 


Lyman Kinney 




234 


Victory. 






Spencer, agent 


for 




the claimant. 






Avery 






Gore. 






Cyril Peck, 






Josiah Bass, between the 




Gore and Auburn. 







RlNDAW. 

Capt. Joab Pickett, 240, 242 
Daniel Roswell, deaf and 

dumb, 240, 242: 



"There is one Isaac Brunson settled in the forks of Wyalusing Creek, just 
to the westward and adjoining my bounds of lot No. 239. He is on a tract 
survey'd to Thomas Dundas. This man has always conducted well and de- 
serves to be kindly treated ; being Town Clerk he can give all the names of 
settlers in New Milford. 



" Thy Friend, 



HENRY DRINKER." 



Extract from a letter of the same to Ebenezer Bowman, of WilTces-Barre ;■ 

dated 

" Philadelphia, 3 mo. 24, 1802. 
" Esteemed Friend, 

"Is it not probable, while impressions are fresh and warm on the minds 
of the Connecticut leaders, speculators, &c, and their hopes and prospects 
in a low, desponding state, and before they have time to devise and contrive 
further means of deluding the people, and prolonging the controversy, there 
may be openings for bringing on agreements and contracts on such terms as 
the Pennsylvania landholders might not dissent from ? 

" I am concerned in an extensive tract, and in the general of an excellent 
quality, situate principally on the waters of Meshoppen Creek, and including 
parts of Wyalusing, Tuscarora, and Tunkhannock Creeks, in the whole near 
100,000 acres, which, on receiving part payment and undoubted good secu- 
rity for the remainder, I would sell together at two dollars pr. acre, though 
I believe it cheap at double that price. There are parts, however, picked 
pieces, which have been intruded on, that are of very superior value, and if 
separately sold, must be at a very different price. I care nought about re- 
linquishments, all that I require is pay and undoubted security, when a cleat- 
title will be made under grants from this State." 



1 The reader will be careful to distinguish this from the Pennsylvania town- 
ship of the same name. The Kinneys were just below the south line of Rush. 



20 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

From the same to the same. 

" Philadelphia, 7 mo. 7, 1802. 
" Esteemed Friend : 

" Our friend E. Tilghman drew up the form of the depositions sent thee, 
and this mode of proceeding against the intruders was recommended by him, 
and also by Gov. McKean ; it is grounded on the Intrusion Laws, and has 
no reference to the cutting of timber, etc. It is expected the defendants 
must, in conformity to the laws, be subject to confinement, or give imme- 
diate security. Whether these suits are to be grounded on the act passed 
the 16th February, 1801, thou wilt judge. Will it not be necessary to as- 
certain when Spencer 1 and the others intruded and commenced their settle- 
ments ? If it was before passing the Intrusion Law in 1795, will not this 
circumstance be an objection to the proposed prosecution?" 

From the same to the same. 

" Philadelphia, 7 mo. 29, 1802. 
" Esteemed Friend : 

" I have this day received thy letter of the 25th inst., by which it appears 
that doubts continue on thy mind as to the propriety of commencing the 
suits I had proposed. Upon the whole, as my friend E. Tilghman is absent, 
and likely to continue so for a considerable time, on a journey into New 
England, and as it was by his advice that I move in this matter, it may, 
under every consideration, be prudent to let your next court go over with- 
out proceeding therein, intending to take further advice on the subject." 

From the same to the same. 

" Philadelphia, 1 mo. 10, 1803. 
"A letter was received by our committee of landholders, about three 
weeks since, dated Alhens, 6th December, 1802, and signed by John Franklin 
and Samuel Avery, which letter thou hast seen. An answer was lately sent 
to Franklin at Lancaster, in substance as follows : After owning receipt of 
•their aforesaid letter, and reciting the words of it, that they are a committee 
appointed at a meeting of the Susquehanna Connecticut Company, to write 
to, and treat with our committee for the purpose of promoting a just and 
reasonable settlement, or compromise of the long subsisting dispute, and 
requesting we would appoint a time and place to meet them on the occasion, 
our answer goes on to say, we cannot agree to meet them, or any descrip- 
tion of persons styling themselves a committee claiming lands under the 
Susquehanna Connecticut Company ; and then refers them to the printed 
letter written to thee, dated in the 5th mo., 1801, which, if they rightly prize 
their own peace and happiness, they will duly attend to. 

" I have a letter from a certain Elisha Tracy, dated Norwich, Connecticut, 
December 19, 1802 ; he therein says, he owns lands on Wyalusing, Wappasinic, 
and at the Nine Partners, under the Connecticut Delaware Company, and 
offers to buy of me, or proposes I should buy of him at a low price, or 
transfer to him part of my lands, on his covering the remainder with his title, 
and says, unless the dispute is settled in some way like this, it never will be 
settled during our lives; he goes further and says, more people are going 
from there this year on the disputed lands than ever did before. 

" As yet, no intimation has come to us from the Connecticut speculators 
and leaders, showing an intention in them to give up the companies ; what 
effect the late decisions of our judges may have on them remains to be 
known ; a quiet and peaceable adjustment of this matter without a resort to 
force, particularly a military force, is much desired by thy assured friend, 

HENRY DRINKER." 

1 Jeremiah Spencer, who bought laud under Connecticut title, and settled in 
Springville. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 21 

From the same to the same. 

" Philadelphia, 9 mo. 30, 1806. 

" It was pleasing to hear of the progress thou had made, and of the pros- 
pect of additional sales on the waters of Wyalusing. . . . 

" A company who have lately viewed about six thousand acres of land 
owned by Colonel Hodgdon, near Kirby and Law's settlement, have offered 
him two and one-half dollars per acre, which he has agreed to accept, one- 
fourth in cash, and remainder on interest." 

The animosity so long existing between the two parties now 
culminated into open warfare. In 1803 occurred the famous 
assault on Mr. Bartlet Hinds, the first settler in what is now 
Montrose, who had become on conviction an advocate of the 
Pennsylvania claim, and was charged with bringing against 
Connecticut settlers indictments for intrusion. This he denied. 
(He had himself been indicted for the same in 1801, along with 
Ezekiel Hyde, John Robinson, Charles Geer, Josiah Grant, 
Blisha Lewis, Amolo Balch, Ichabod Halsey, John Reynolds, 
Jeremiah Meachem, Otis Robinson, Elias West, and others.) 
His enemies believed him leagued with the Pennsylvania 
landholders, and said (though without reason) that he received 
five acres from them, for every settler he induced to come in 
under their title, and he had succeeded in bringing in about 
one hundred. But the fact that he had acknowledged the 
Pennsylvania right, by repaying for his own land, was ex- 
erting an influence that embittered against him all who denied 
that claim. 

They purchased a note of Mr. Hinds, commenced a suit upon 
it, took him fourteen miles from home for trial before D. Ross, 
Esq., at a late hour in the day, making it necessary for him to 
remain over night. In the evening, the house in which he 
lodged was surrounded by a mob, who forcibly entered and 
took him from the house; and, tying him to a horse's tail, 
dragged him through the Wyalusing Creek, near its forks. 
When nearly exhausted, Mr. Hinds made the Masonic sign, 
which induced one of the fraternity to give him assistance, but, 
when he had reached the shore, his assailants formed a ring, 
and, seizing his hands, drew him around his burning effigy, and 
occasionally pushed him into the flames. 1 For this deed, 
eighteen persons were indicted for riot and assault, and taken 
to Wilkes-Barre, as the parties belonged in what was then Lu- 
zerne County. On the trial, the defendants withdrew the plea of 
"not guilty," and entered "guilty." Five were imprisoned for 

1 Cyrus Whipple, son of Ebenezer Whipple, and now living in Iowa, says : 
" Mr. Hinds bore it like a martyr ; on his return home, he called at my father's, 
and he looked as if he had seen hard times. There was a constable among the 
mob, who would cry out at the top of his voice, ' I command the peace!' then, 
in a low whisper, would say : ' Rush on, boys, rush on !' " 



22 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the space of three months without bail, one of whom had to 
pay $10, and four of them, $20 each ; and also to pay the costs 
of prosecution and stand committed until the whole was paid. 
Nine were to pay a fine of $30 each, and the court further or- 
dered "that they enter into recognizances each in the sum of 
$500, with one good freeholder in like sum, conditioned for 
their good behavior for the space of one year; and that they 
severally pay the costs of prosecution, and stand committed till 
the whole sentence be complied with." 

One would suppose this had been enough to deter others 
from further assaults upon the person of B. Hinds, on account 
of his loyalty to Pennsylvania ; but, as late as 1808, another 
case occurred, in which he again came oft' conqueror. 

In 1804, Gov. McKean ordered out two brigades of militia, 
to enforce the laws against Connecticut claimants. 

In 1805, the Pennsylvania landholders invited such claimants 
to give descriptions of their lands, and offered easy terms of 
purchase in return ; but the public journals warned settlers 
against giving information which might lead to their ejectment. 
The old settlers in the seventeen townships, occupied before 
the Decree at Trenton, endeavored to dissuade new-comers 
from resistance to Pennsylvania claims, saying, "The State of 
Connecticut has abandoned you," which of course was the fact, 
so far as jurisdiction was concerned, since 1782. Congress re- 
fused to interfere, though its action in regard to acknowledging 
the claim of Connecticut to lands west of Pennsylvania, had 
only confirmed whatever claim she had entered to territory 
within it; since, in law, "all titles from the same source are 
equally valid." 

In May, 1806, the trustees appointed by the association of 
settlers under Connecticut claims met 1 and proposed to settle 
the controversy by an amicable compromise, " on such terms 
as settlers can meet with safety ; as it respects payments, and 
the regularity of title;" and in their appeals to them, stated: 
"An agent (Tench Coxe) is appointed on the part of our oppo- 
nents," and so discouraged individual arrangements, advising 
that the business be effected with him through the agents for 
the settlers. These were John Franklin, at Athens, Major 
Nath'l Allen, at Burlington, and Captain (afterwards Colonel) 
Thomas Parke, of Rush. Three years previous, the committee 
of Pennsylvania landholders had refused to treat with persons 
styling themselves " President and Board of Directors appointed 
at a meeting of the proprietors and claimants of lands under a 
title derived from the Connecticut Susquehanna Company ;" 

' Of this meeting Isaac Brownson was chairman, and Joseph Kingsbury clerk. 



HISTOBY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 23 

but a less offensive phraseology seems to have conduced to a 
final adjustment of affairs. 

Anecdotes are told to this day of the perils and adventures 
within our own vicinity which those encountered who came 
still later to take possession in the name or under the sanction 
of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. " A surveyor in the 
employment of Dr. R. H. Rose, while tracing a boundary line 
through the woods, placed his hand high on a tree to mark 
where the ax-man, who followed, should strike out a chip as 
an evidence of the line that had been run. The surveyor had 
scarcely taken his hand from the tree, when the sharp crack of 
a rifle ran through the forest, and the spot where the hand had 
been laid was ' chipped' by a leaden bullet, a hint that sufficed 
to stay all proceedings for the rest of that day. On one occasion, 
to such extremities had matters proceeded, the J Yankees' had 
resolved to take the life of Dr. R., and information was brought to 
him that a meeting would be held at a particular place on a 
certain day named, to organize their measures. He determined 
at once to face the danger ; and, riding boldly to a small clear- 
ing, which had been described to him as the scene of the in- 
tended meeting, he found the plotters in actual consultation on 
the subject. The very boldness of the step procured him a 
hearing ; he rehearsed to them the historjr of the claims of the 
two States, and of the grounds of the final settlement, reminded 
them it was governmental, not individual action ; that he had 
bought of the legal claimant ; that he felt sorry for them, and 
wished to lighten their load in every possible way, and re- 
peated his offers, which he said were final. He told them he 
was aware of their designs, but added, ' Why shoot my survey- 
ors? It is bright moonlight, and I shall ride slowly to my 
camp by such a track — but let whoever follows take a sure 
aim; he will not fire twice!' Soon one of the leaders advanced 
towards him, and renewed the conversation respecting the dis- 
putes that existed ; the matter was freely discussed ; a better 
temper sprang up, and from that moment may be dated the 
negotiations that produced the happy termination to which all 
the troubles arising from the conflicting claims of the two 
States were subsequently brought." 



24 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTT. 




CHAPTER V. 

COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

Susquehanna County was set off from Luzerne by an act 
of Legislature, passed^ February 21, 1810 ; but it was not fully 

organized, with county officers elect- 
ed, until the fall of 1812. The first 
section of the same act set off from 
Luzerne, with a portion of Lycom- 
ing, another county, then named 
Ontario, now Bradford; and the 
east line of Ontario formed the 
west line of Susquehanna County, 

'From the fortieth mile-stone standing 
on the north line of the State, to a point 
due east of the head of Wyalusing Falls, 
in the Susquehanna." From thence, the 
southern line was directed to run " due east 
to the western line of Wayne County; 
thence northerly along the said western line of Wayne County to the afore- 
said north line of the State (at the sixth mile-stone counting from the 
Delaware River westward), and thence along the said State line to the 
fortieth mile-stone, the place of beginning." 

Different opinions exist respecting the origin of the present 
southern line of the county ; of these, one seemingly authori- 
tative is, that, owing to some misunderstanding between the 
surveyors as to the allowance to be made for the magnetic 
variation in the north line of the State, the party which set 
out to run the line from the point indicated in the act, found 
themselves considerably north of the line run by the party 
starting from the western line of Wayne County. This re- 
sulted in a compromise, which has since given rise to various 
difficulties, especially in determining the northern line of 
Wyoming County. By reference to the county map, it will be 
seen that a line drawn due east from the southwest corner of 
our county would cut off Dundaff and the land adjacent for 
more than a mile north and south. 

From the report made by B. T. Case, Esq., to the commis- 
sioners of Susquehanna County, in 1827, we learn that the 
whole length of the county on the south line is thirty-three 
miles and one hundred and seventeen perches, and the breadth 
on the east line is twenty-three miles and three hundred and 
fourteen perches. (Magnetic variation 2° 30" west. See Ap- 
pendix.) 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 25 

The county derives its name from the fact that the Susque- 
hanna Kiver first enters the State of Pennsylvania within its 
limits. We are happy in having the sweet-sounding Indian 
name retained for our frequent local use. " Hanna" signifies 
a stream of water, and " Susque" is generally believed to mean 
crooked, though one writer gives its signification as muddy, for 
which there is no justification in point of fact ; and the Indians 
gave no arbitrary names. A more winding, crooked stream 
than the Susquehanna, as to general course, is not to be found 
in the Northern States; in our own county it varies directly 
three times. In the grand sweep of the river, from Lanesboro 
to Pittston, it completely drains our county, every stream 
within our borders eventually falling into it. When the north 
line of the State was determined, in 1786, it was found to cross 
twelve streams running south, and nine running north between 
the sixth and fortieth mile-stones from the Delaware River — ■ 
the limits of the north line of Susquehanna County. Promi- 
nent among these were the " Appelacunck," "Chucknut," and 
" Snake Creeks." (See ' Pennsylvania Archives,' No. 29.) 

Running north into the Susquehanna, but not crossing the 
State line, there are, besides minor streams, Wylie Creek, the 
Salt Lick, Mitchell's, Drinker's, the Canawacta, and Starucca; 
though the latter and Cascade Creek may rather be said to 
enter the river from the east. 

The Lackawanna (Leckaiv, forks, and Hanna, stream), and 
Tunkhannock (Tonk two, and Hanna, stream), including Bow- 
man's Creek, with their tributaries, have their sources in the 
eastern townships, and run across the south line of the county ; 
the sources of Martin's and Horton's Creeks are in the central 
townships, and, with the Meshoppen (Mawshapi cord, or Reed 
stream), in its four streams, one of which rises near Montrose ; 
they cross the south line to reach the river, while the Tuscarora 
and Wyalusing (Wighalusui, plenty of meat) find it after cross- 
ing the county line on the west. 

But, without entering further, at present, upon the topo- 
graphical features of the county, the reader's attention is in- 
vited to the following diagrams illustrating its official divisions 
at different periods. And, first, in the year 1790, that portion 
of Luzerne, since constituting the area of Susquehanna County, 
was included within two townships, Tioga 1 and Wyalusing. 
By order of the justices of Luzerne, Tioga was bounded on 
the north by the northern line of the State, and east and west 

1 Tioga township, in old Northumberland, from which Luzerne (including 
Susquehanna and Bradford Counties) was taken, extended from the present 
western line of Wayne County to Phoutz's or Big Meadows, in Tioga County, 
and was eighteen miles in depth from the State line. 



26 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

by the lines of that county, and on the south by an east and 
west line which should strike the standing stone. 

Wyalusing was " bounded on the north by Tioga township, 
on the east and west by lines of the county, and on the south 
by an east and west line passing through the mouth of the 
Meshopping Creek." Tunkhannock, the next township below, 

Fife. 2. 




also extended across Luzerne County, and its southern limit 
was an east and west line through Buttermilk Falls. 

In March, 1791, the court of Luzerne ordered the erection of 
the township of Willingborough, from the northeast corner of 
Tioga, but its boundaries were not defined until April, 1793. 
(See Great Bend.) 

August, 1795, Nicholson, so named from John Nicholson, 
Comptroller of the State, was erected from parts of Tioga and 
Wyalusing, with the following boundaries : — 

" Beginning at the place where the north line of the township of Tunk- 
hannock crosses a small creek west of Martin's Creek; running thence due 
north thirteen miles; thence east to the east line of the county; thence south 
on the county line to the place where it shall intersect the north line of 
Tunkhannock township ; thence west on said line to place of beginning." 

This proves that Nicholson was never " twenty miles square," 
as some have supposed. 

In January, 1797, the court approved, but not " finally" until 
January, 1798, the petition of Ephraim Kirby, and others, for 
the erection of the township of Lawsville. (See Franklin.) 

In 1799, Braintrim was set off from Wyalusing and Tunk- 
hannock; the portion taken from the former by Susquehanna 
County, retains nearly its original dimensions in the present 
town of Auburn. (See Fig 3.) 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 27 

Fig. 3. (A.D. 1799.) 



:■ 'f— — 1 — : 1 . . 1 






i i 
i LAWS-* 
' VI LLE y W/U//VS BOROUGH 

i;\ ■.' i ' \ : .;;'..v.-V 












- - V ! NICHOLSON 

BRAIN- i i 
TRIM \ \ 





TOWNSHIPS ERECTED FROM TIOGA AND WYALUSING. 

January, 1801, Ezekiel Hyde, Justus Gaylord, and M. Miner 
York were appointed commissioners to set off the township of 
Kush, and in November of the same year, their report was ac- 
cepted. The township was eighteen miles north and south by 
thirteen miles east and west, except that on the south line it 
extended five miles further, this extension being five miles 
square. The whole comprised 172,660 acres. The following 
diagram represents the boundaries of Bush in 1801. The 
dotted line marks the division made by the erection of Susque- 
hanna County. 

Fig. 4. 




At this time there were but twelve election districts in Luzerne 
County : Willingborough, Lawsville, and Nicholson, together 



28 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



constituting the tenth : and Eush, or Eindaw, the ninth. Eindaw 
as a Pennsylvania election district must be carefully distin- 
guished from the Connecticut township of that name at the 
forks of the Wyalusing; the former included the latter, but 
its name appears to have been only temporarily adopted. 

Fig. 5. (A.D. 1801.) 




ELECTION DISTRICTS. 



Though the boundaries of the townships already given did 
not absorb the two townships of 1790, the latter are not again 
mentioned in this section on the Luzerne records. Practically, 
the line of Willingborough extended to Nicholson on the south, 
and both, to Eindaw (district) on the west. 

In 1805, the court was petitioned to erect the townships of 
Clifford, Bridgewater, and New Milford. The first named was 
approved " finally" in April, 1806 ; the second, in November, 
following ; and the last, in August, 1807. The northeast corner 
of Clifford was then twelve miles below the State line, being 
also what was the northeast corner of old Nicholson ; and its 
area was one hundred and eight square miles. The eastern 
limit of New Milford, like that of Clifford, was the line of 
Wayne County. Bridgewater extended north and south about 
twenty-five miles. 

At August sessions, 1807, a petition from the " Nine Part- 
ners" was promptly considered, and Harford was granted 
January, 1808. For eleven years the inhabitants had desired 
township organization, but two or three previous petitions had 
failed to secure the result. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 
Fig. 6. (A.D. 1808.) 



29 









— 






! .'-.3 ■'.■;'■ :j ■-'/' 
















l — r s ■■■■■.: 






5 


1 / • . 

7 - ■■ ■•■'/ ; 








i 9 - \ 






1 

4 


f 2q 1 







1. Willingborougli. 

.2. Remainder of Nicholson. 

3. Lawsville extended. 

4. A section of Braintritn. 

5. Remainder of Rush. 



6. Clifford. 

7. Bridgewater. 

8. New Milford. 

9. Harford. 



In 1809, Harmony was organized, the last township ordered 
"by the court of Luzerne in the section set off to Susquehanna 
County. It formed the northeast corner of the latter as it had 
of the former, extending from the State line twelve miles south, 
and from Wayne County nine miles west. 

Early in 1808, a division of Luzerne County was contem- 
plated, and a public meeting to favor the object was held July 
IB, at the house of Edward Fuller, in Bridgewater, about four 
miles below Montrose; Asa Lathrop presiding, and J. W. 
Raynsford acting as secretary. Owing to a disagreement as to 
county lines, it was proposed that all the townships should 
send delegates to a meeting to be held at the house of Salmon 
Bosworth, iu Rush, September 1, following, and then endeavor 
to decide the matter; but it was not until a year and a half 
later that the act of legislature was passed, which erected the 
counties of Susquehanna and Ontario; and it was two years 
more before the former " bade good-bye to old mother Luzerne, 
and set up housekeeping for herself." 

[In the map of Old Luzerne, the west line, indicating the 
relative position of Susquehanna, is either not far enough west, 
or the line of the north branch of the Wyalusing is incorrectly 
given, for the forks should be within Susquehanna County.] 



30 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Fig. 7. (A.D. 1810.)" 







i ! | 

i V i i 
-i-Jr--] 


/O 




s 




: cs 










7 / 

\ 9 ] 








1 


/ n 


S 




4 




Y p 











THE TEN TOWNSHIPS SET OFF TO FORM SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

These are numbered in the order of their erection, a review 
of which may serve the reader : — 

l. 

2. 



3. 
4. 

5. 



7. 



Willingborough, now Great Bend. 

Nicholson, being that part of old Nicholson cut off from Luzerne by the 

county line, since August, 1813, and now called Lenox. 
Lawsville, embracing Liberty and the greater part of Franklin. 
Braintrim, being that part of old Braintrim cut off from Luzerne by the 

county line, and now called Auburn. 
Rush, then extending eighteen miles north to the State line, by eight miles 

east and west, embracing besides its present limits, all of Middletown, 

Choconut, and Apolocon, and the western parts of Jessup and Forest Lake. 
Clifford, embracing besides its present limits, Gibson, Herrick, and tbe 

southern part of Ararat. 
Bridgewater, then embracing besides its present limits, all of Brooklyn and 

Latbrop, Springville and Dimock, tbe eastern parts of Jessup and Forest 

Lake, all of Silver Lake, and the south part of Franklin. 

8. New Milford, nearly as it is. 

9. Harford — its southern and eastern lines slightly changed — was for many 

years known as "Nine Partners." 
10. Harmony, embracing besides its present limits, Oakland, Jackson, Thomson, 
and the northern part of Ararat. 

In 1811, all moneys in the county district of Susquehanna 
were by act of Legislature, to be kept separate from those of 
Luzerne, and within the bounds of that district. February 25, 
1812, a meeting was held at the house of Isaac Post, in Bridge- 
water, to recommend proper persons to the governor to fill the 
several offices necessary to the organization of Susquehanna 
county; Davis Dimock, chairman, and J. W. Eaynsford, sec- 
retary. The citizens of each township were recommended to 
nominate officers at their annual town meeting in March, 1812, 
and make returns the Monday following at the house of I. Post. 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 31 

Proclamation for elections, 1812, were issued from Luzerne 
to Susquehanna County district; but it had been decreed by 
act of Legislature that " from and after the 2c? Tuesday of 
October, 1812, Susquehanna shall enjoy and exercise in judicial 
concerns all powers and privileges;" and the new county was 
included with Tioga, Wayne, and Bradford in the 11th judicial 
district. 

Bridgewater township, in the year 1810, numbered 1418 in- 
habitants; Clifford, 675; Harford, 477; Willingboro' and Har- 
mony, 413; New Milford, 174; and Lawsville, 169. 

Isaac Post was appointed treasurer of the county in 1812, 
Edward Fuller, sheriff ; Bartlet Hinds, Labon Capron, and Isaac 
Brownson, commissioners, and Dr. Charles Fraser, prothono- 
tary, clerk of the courts, register, and recorder. 

At the time of the division of Luzerne County. Thomas Parke 
of Bridgewater was commissioner, but he resigned October, 1812 ; 
Hosea Tiffany had previously served as commissioner, and these 
two were the only ones who had been appointed to that office 
from the ten townships now set off. The court was organized 
by the appointment of the Hon. J. B. Gibson, President Judge, 
with Davis Dimock and William Thomson, Associate Judges 
— the two latter took their oaths before the Prothonotary of 
Luzerne. 

The county seat was located at Montrose as early as July, 
1811, by three commissioners appointed by the governor. They 
were permitted to locate it at a distance not exceeding seven 
miles from the centre of the county. Stakes were set at several 
places proposed ; one in Brooklyn, one in Harford, and one in 
New Milford. But, in addition to a greater political influence 
existing, a stronger pecuniary interest was brought to bear for 
its location in Montrose. Dr. E. H. Eose, whose extensive 
tracts of land reached this vicinity, made more liberal offers to 
secure this location than any that could be made elsewhere. 
Besides, a gift of a public square at this point for the erection 
of the county buildings, as also of other lots, was made by Bart- 
let Hinds and Isaac Post. 

The land given by Bartlet Hinds had been granted by the 
commonwealth to Thos. Cadwallader, who by deed conveyed 
it to Samuel Meredith, who by deed conveyed it to George 
Clymer, who by deed, October 19, 1804, conveyed it to Bartlet 
Hinds. Another portion was granted by the commonwealth 
to Jos. Bullock and Isaac Franks, who by deed conveyed it to 
Tench Francis, whose widow, by her attorney, conveyed the 
same to Bartlet Hinds, July 9, 1804. The land given by Isaac 
Post (consideration $1.00) was first granted to the same parties, 
as the portion last mentioned ; who by their deeds conveyed it 



32 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

to Tench Francis, who by his last will and testament, April 4, 
1800, devised his estate to his widow Anne Francis; who by- 
deed, February 18, 1809, granted the land to Eobert H. Kose ; 
which sale was confirmed to the said Robert H. Rose, by deed, 
February 25, 1809, from Richard Penn (her attorney), and on 
the 5th of October of the same year was conveyed by him to 
Isaac Post. July 24, 1812, the aforesaid lands were deeded to 
Susquehanna County, by Isaac and Susannah Post, and Bartlet 
and Agnes Hinds; and, on the 31st of the same month, the 
conveyance was acknowledged as a free act and deed, before J. 
W. Raynsford, Justice of the Peace. 

Soon after the organization of the board of commissioners, 
Isaac Post, the treasurer, was charged with the subscription 
papers of donations made towards building the court-house, etc. 
It will be seen by the following list of subscribers, with the 
sums given by each, that the amounts were graduated somewhat 
by the nearness of their property to the new county-seat, as 
well as by the length of their purses. Robert H. Rose, whose 
lands reached near the village, gave $200 ; Stephen Wilson, 
whose farm was a little south of it, gave $100 ; Abinoam .Hinds, 
Conrad Hinds, and Isaac Peckins, gave each $50 ; David Harris, 
Jonathan Wheaton, and James Trane, 1 gave each $25 ; Simeon 
Tyler, Cvrus Messenger, Samuel Quick, Joseph Hubbard, and 
Samuel Cogswell, gave each $20 ; Joseph Chapman, Edward 
Fuller, Joseph Butterfield, Henry Post, Levi Leonard, John 
Bard, Zebulon Deans, and Edmond Stone, gave each $10; and 
Freeman Fishback, Thomas Scott, and Samuel Scott, gave 
each $5 ; Bartlet Hinds, and Isaac and David Post, on whose 
lands the county-seat was located, gave sundry village lots. 

The corner stone of the first court-house was laid in 1812, 
but the building was not erected until June, 1813 ; Oliver C. 
Smith was the builder. Though now so diminutive in size 
and appearance, compared with the new one, it was then con- 
sidered quite a magnificent edifice — an ornament to this region 
of the State. Besides the court-room in the second story, the 
jail and jailor's residence were in the first story, and the cor- 
ner rooms in front, above, and below, were made to accommo- 
date all the county offices. 

The first assessment of taxes by this county was for 1813. 
The following is the list of collectors, with the amount of their 
duplicates : — 

1 It may be news to those who recollect poor " Old Trane," who never had a 
family, and who died some years ago a pauper of this borough, that he was 
actually one of the Fathers of the town. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



33 



Bridgewater, 


Jonah Brewster, 


$1265 04 


Clifford, 


Walter Lyon, 


442 22 


Rush, 


Philo Bostwick, 


418 37 


Harford, 


David Aldrich, 


273 71 


WMingboro' (Gt. Bend), 


Silas Buck, 


220 61 


New Milford, 


Benjamin Hay den, 


194 99 


Lawsville, 


Titus Smith, 


' 151 80 


Harmony, 


Isaac Hale, 


71 22 


Braintrim (Auburn), 


William Cooley, 


58 77 


Nicholson (Lenox), 


Solomon Millard, 


57 27 



Total, 



$3154 00 



TOWNSHIP OFFICERS FOR 1813. 
Sworn April 26th. 



Townships. 


Constables. 


Supervisors. 


Poor Masters. 


Free-holders. 


Bridgewater. 


Jonah Brewster. 


Stephen Wilson, 
Thomas Scott, 
(Edw'd Paine 
in August.) 


Charles Fraser, 
Isaac Post. 




Willingborough. 


Silas Buck. 


Silas Buck, 
Joseph Bowes. 


Noble Trow- 
bridge, Simeon 
Wylie. 




Clifford. 


Samuel Miller. 


Jonathan Burns. 
Elias Bell. 


Walter Lyon, 
Joseph Wash- 
burn. 




New Milford. 


Benj. Hayden. 


Seth Mitchell, 
John Stanley. 






Rush. 


James Agard. 


Philo Morehouse 
Philo Bost- 
wick. 






Lawsville. 


John Pierce. 


Titus Smith, 
Nath'l Ives. 


Jedediah Adams 
Friend Tuttle. 




Harford. 


Orlen Capron. 


Laban Cnpron, 
Jas. Chandler. 






Harmony. 




Isaac Hale, 


Nath'l Lewis, . 


John Hillborn, 






John Hillborn 


Marmaduke 
Salsbury. 


Marmaduke 
S:tlsbury, 
Adam Swagart, 
Samuel Tread- 
well. 


Braintrim. 




William Cooley, 
Philip Haverly 






Nicholson. 


Starlin Bell. 


Solomon Millard 
William Bell. 


Elisha Bell, 
Michael Hal- 
stead. 





Petitions were read during the first term of court, January, 
1813, praying for the erection of three new townships, viz., 
Silver Lake, Choconut, and Gibson. The first was confirmed 
in August following; at which time, also, Nicholson (with a 
small porton of Harford) received the name of Lenox. Gibson 
was finally confirmed November, 1813. During the second 
and third terms of court, petitions were read, praying for the 
erection of Springville and Waterford, and the division of 



34 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Rush into three townships, viz., Choconut, Middletown, and 
Bush — a remonstrance being presented against the confirmation 
of a report making Choconut eight miles square, as proposed 
in January; the division was finally effected in January, 1814; 
while Springville and Waterford were not confirmed finally until 
the April following, or just one year after the petition was first 
read ; but this was a decided improvement upon former delays, 
when Wilkes-Barre was the seat of justice for this remote sec- 
tion. The same month, the name Braintrim was changed to 
Auburn, and, in November following, Willingborough to Great 
Bend. Jackson was erected from the southern half of Harmony, 
December, 1815, having been confirmed " nisi" in the previous 
spring; from that time for ten years no proposed new township 
received the favor of the court. 




CHOCONUT \SILVER- o ' A 

. i lake ,>>?;.. ,: i , ;r: 






r — --*--■ 



MIDDLE TOWNi 






JACKSON 



GIBSON 



VILLE ;s > 



In the mean time, the name of Waterford had twice been 
changed, first, in 1823, to Hopbottom, and, in 1825, to Brooklyn, 
which then covered an area represented by Nos. 16 and 23 on 
the accompanying diagram. 

Montrose, taken from Bridgewater, had been incorporated in 
1824, and Dundaff, taken from Clifford, in 1828. Herrick was 
erected by order of the court, May, 1825, from Gibson and 
Clifford. 

For the next seven years propositions in regard to townships 
referred to separation rather than annexation ; when, late in 
1832, a new township was organized from Springville and the 
southern part of Bridgewater, and named Dtmock. 

In May, 1833, Thomson was taken from Jackson. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 35 

Fig. 9. Susquehanna County, 187-. 




18. Herrick. 

19. Dimock. 

20. Thomson. 

21. Franklin. 



22. Forest Lake. 

23. Lathrop. 

24. Jessup. 



25. Apolaccn. 

26. Ararat. 

27. Oakland. 



In December, 1835, Franklin was erected from Lawsville and 
the northern part of Bridgewater ; and in September of the 
following year the name of Lawsville was changed to Liberty. 
Thus after nearly forty years' service the old name disappeared 
from the list of townships, though, happily, it is retained in 
the central P. O. of Liberty. 

In 1836, the township of Forest Lake was taken from parts 
of Bridgewater, Silver Lake, and Middletown. This year the 
dispute in reference to a division of the county was renewed r 
and continued full three years, placing its fair proportions in 
no small danger of being sadly curtailed. 

In 1846, the township of Lathrojy was erected from the south- 
ern half of Brooklyn; that of Jessup from the western part of 
Bridgewater and the eastern part of Eush ; and, from Choconut,, 
more than half was taken to constitute Apolacon. The borough 
of Friendsville was incorporated in 1848. Ararat was only a 
settlement of Harmony and Clifford, and afterwards of Jackson 
and Gibson, and then of Herrick and Thomson, until 1852,. 
when its various transmigrations were terminated in its pro- 
motion to a township. 

By decree of court, Susquehanna Depot became a borough, 
August, 1853. Oakland township was erected from the western 
part of Harmony, in December of the same year. 

The borough of New Milford was incorporated, December, 



36 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



1859. Great Bend, November, 1861; and Little Meadows, March, 
1862. 

It should be observed, that, of the twenty-seven townships, 
seven received their names in honor of the Judges of the courts 
of Susquehanna County with the exception of Rush, which, 
being erected while it was a part of Luzerne, was named after 
Judge Eush then presiding over the courts at Wilkes-Barre. 



Eecapitulation. 



10. 

11. 

12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 



Willingborough 

Nicholson 

Lawsville 

Braintrim 

Rush 

Clifford 

Bridgewater 

New Milford 

Harford 

Harmony 

Silver Lake 

Gibson 

Choconut 

Middletown 

Springville 



16. Waterford 



Jackson 

Herrick 

Dimock 

Thomson 

Franklin 

Forest Lake 

Lathrop 

Jessup 

Apolacon 

Ararat 

Oakland 



(changed to Great Bend, ] 
( " Lenox, ] 
( " Liberty, ] 
( " Auburn, ] 
(reduced to present limits 1 
( " " " 1 
( <«'«<] 

(reduced to present limits 1 
( " " " ] 

(reduced to present limits '. 

( " " " 1 
(changed to Hopbottom, '. 
( " Brooklyn, 
( " present limits, '. 
( " " " ; 
( " " " ] 


814), 
813), 
836), 
814), 
814), 
825), 
846), 

853), 
836), 

846), 

832), 
823), 
825), 
846), 
836), 
1852), 



confirmed* 


' finally 


'April, 1793. 
Aug. 1795. 
Jan. 1798. 


it 


ii 
ii 


1799. 
Nov. 1801. 


a 
a 
tt 


ii 


April, 1806. 
Nov. 1806. 
Aug. 1807. 
Jan. 1808. 




ii 
it 
ii 


1809. 
Aug. 1813. 
Nov. 1813. 


a 


ii 


Jan. 1814. 


*\ 


ii 
ii 


Jan. 1814. 
April, 1814. 


} " 


ii 


April, 1814. 


j 
ii 


ii 


Dec. 1815. 


it 


ii 
ii 


May, 1825. 
Dec. 1832. 


ii 


ii 

ii 


May, 1833. 
Dec. 1835. 


• I 
ii 


ii 
ii 


May, 1836. 
1846. 


ii 


ii 


1846. 


ii 


ii 


1846. 


it 
ii 


ii 
ii 


1852. 
Dec. 1853. 



CHAPTER VI. 



OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY.— JUDGES OF THE COURTS. 



[For the following statements and the list of county officers 
to 1858, the compiler is indebted to Hon. J. W. Chapman.] 

Hon. John B. Gibson (since Chief Justice of the Supreme 
'Court of Pennsylvania) was the first President Judge of the 
district to which this county was attached. It embraced Sus- 
quehanna, Bradford, Tioga, and Wayne Counties. He presided 
about four years. 

Hon. Thomas Burnside succeeded him in September, 1816, 
presiding two years. He, too, has since been a Judge of the 
Supreme Court. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 37 

Hon. Edward Herrick first presided here in August, 1818, 
being appointed for a new district embracing Susquehanna, 
Bradford, and Tioga Counties. He presided for twenty-one 
years, lacking one term of court, when he was superseded by 
the adoption of the new constitution limiting the terms of all 
the Judges, and 

Hon. John N. Conyngham 1 succeeded him in May, 1839, 
continuing two years. 

Hon. William Jessup, who had previously been appointed 
for the district embracing Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne 
Counties, first presided in our county, in April, 1811; Susque- 
hanna being added to his district, and Luzerne put with Brad- 
ford and Tioga in Judge Conyngham's district, for the mutual 
accommodation of both. Judge J. presided for ten and a half 
years. 

Hon. David Wilmot was first elected Judge for Bradford, 
Susquehanna, and Wyoming in the fall of 1851. He presided 
nearly six years, and on his resignation in the summer of 1857, 

Hon. Darius Bullock 2 was appointed to fill the vacancy 
for the remainder of the year. The district embraced only 
Bradford and Susquehanna. 

Judge Wilmot was appointed to preside again in January, 
1858, and was re-elected for ten years, in the following fall. 

Hon. Ulysses Mercur was appointed President Judge of this 
judicial district in March, 1861, and in the October following 
was elected to the same office for a term of ten years from De- 
cember, 1861 ; was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and 
resigned his judgeship, March 4, 1865; was re-elected to the 
Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, and was re-elected to the 
Forty-second Congress as a Eepublican. In the fall of 1872 
he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court. 

Hon. Farris B. Streeter was appointed to succeed Judge M. in 
1865. He was elected in October of that year for ten years. 

Hon. Paul Dudley Morrow was appointed additional law judge 
of the 13th district, March 1, 1870. He was elected the following 
October to the same office for ten years from December, 1870. 

1 John N. Conyngham was born in Philadelphia, December, 1798 ; graduated 
at University of Pennsylvania in 1816 ; studied law with James R. Ingersoll, 
and was admitted to the bar, in 1820 ; soon after he came to Wilkes-Barre, 
where he married a daughter of Lord Butler, Esq. In 1841, after he had 
served for two years as President Judge of this district, the change referred to 
above was made with Judge Jessup. " Two more able and upright judges have 
never presided in these courts." 

In 1850 Judge C. was elected to the judgeship he had held by appointment, 
and was re-elected in 1860. In 1870, he resigned from failing eyesight. 
In 1871, he was killed on a railroad at Magnolia, Miss. 

2 Dr. Bullock is now nearly 80 years of age. He was for years a practicing 
physician, studied law, was an able counsellor, President Judge, a Major General 
of the olden time. 



38 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 

Davis Dimock and William Thomson were appointed As- 
sociate Judges for this county at its organization in 1812. The 
terms of all the Judges were then " during good behavior ;" 
but the resignation of Judge Thomson, after serving twenty-five 
years, created a vacancy which was filled by the appointment of 

Isaac Post in October, 1837, who served a little over five 
years. The limitation imposed by the constitution terminated 
Judge Dimock's services after nearly twenty-eight years, and 

Jabez Hyde was appointed in his place, March, 1840. His 
death, about eighteen months afterward, created a vacancy, and 

Benjamin Lathrop was appointed in his place, November, 

1841. He served five years. 

Dr. Calvin Leet succeeded Judge Post, February, 1843, for 
five years. 

Moses C. Tyler succeeded Judge Lathrop, March, 1847, for 
five years, nearly. 

Charles Tingley succeeded Judge Leet in March, 1848. His 
term lasted only three and one-half years, as the amendment to 
the constitution for the election of Judges cut him off, and 

John Boyle, and Davis D. Warmer, were elected Associate 
Judges for five years, in the fall of 1851. 

Urbane Burrows and Charles F. Eead were elected in the 
fall of 1856. 

Charles F. Read (second term) and I. P. Baker were elected 
in 1861. 

Alfred Baldwin and R. T. Ashley were elected in 1866. 

James W. Chapman and Judson H. Cook were elected in 1871. 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 
(Those in italics are from Susquehanna County.) 
1812. Isaac Smith, Jared Irwin, for North'nd, Union, Col., Luzerne and Snsque'na. 
1814. David Scott, Wm. Wilson, " " " " 

jglg « « » " " " " " " 

1817. J. Murray, (in pi. of Scott, res.) " " " " " 

1818. " Geo. Denison, " " " " " 
1820. W. C Ellis, " " " " " " " 
1822-24-26. Samuel McKean, George Kremer, Espy Van Horn, for Luzerne, Sus- 

que'na, Bradford, Tioga, North'nd, Col., Union, Lycom., Potter, McKean. 
1828. Philander Stephens, Alera Marr, James Ford. 
1830. " " Lewis Dewatt, " 

1832-34. John Laporte, for Susquehanna, Bradford, Tioga, Potter, McKean. 
1836-38. t^am'l W. Morris, " " " " 

1840. Davis Dimock, Jr., died January, 1842. 

1842. Almon H. Read, elected in March, " " " " 
1842. " " (died) for Susquehanna, Bradford, Tioga. 
1844. G. Fuller, elected to fill vac, " " 

1844. D. Wilmot, for 29th Congress, " " " 

1846-48. " re-elected, " " " 

1850-52-54-56-58-60. G. A. Grow, ". " " 

1862-64-66. Charles Denison. 
1«68. Geo. W. Woodward. 
1871. L. D. Shoemaker. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



39 



STATE SENATORS. 



(Representing Susquehanna after our separation from Luzerne.) 

1812, William Ross, for Northunib., Union, Columbia, Luzerne, and Susque. 
1814, Thomas Murray, Jr , " " 

1816", Charles Fraser, " " 

1818, Simon Snyder, " " 

1819, Robert Willet, " 

1820, Redmond Conyngbam, " " 
1822, Jonah Brewster, for Susquehanna, Bradford, and Tioga. 
1825, Jobn Ryon, " " " 

1829, Samuel McKean, " " " 

1830, Reuben Wilder, " " " 
1833, Almon H. Read, " " " 
1837, Elihu Case, for Susquehanna and Bradford. 
1841, Asa Dimock, " " 

1844, Wm. H. Dimmick, for Susquebauna, Wavne, and Wyoming. 
1847, F. B. Slreeter, 

1850, George Sanderson, for Susquebanna, Bradford, and Wyoming. 
1853, William M. Piatt, 

1856, E. Reed Myer, " " " 

1859, George Landon, " " " 

1862, William J. Turrell, " 

1865, George Landon, " " " 

1868, P. M. Osterbout, " " «. 

1871. L. F. Fitch, " " 



STATE REPRESENTATIVES. 



1812 
1813 
1814 
1815 

1816 

1817 

1818 

1819 

1820 

1821 

1822 

1823 

1824 

1825 

1826 

1827 

1828 

1829 

1833 

1834 

1835 

1836- 

1838- 

1840, 

1841, 

1842, 

1843- 

1845- 

1847- 

1849, 



Cbarles Miner, Benjamin Dorrance, for Luzerne and Susquebanna. 

Jabez Hyde, Jr.,- Joseph Pruner, " " 

Putnam Catlin, Benjamin Dorrance, " " 

Redmond Conyngbam, Benj. Dorrance, " " 

Jonah Brewster, George Denison, *' " 

" " James Reeder, " " 

« k ii it (i « 

" " Benjamin Dorrance, " " 

Cornelius Cortright, " " " " 

Jabez Hyde, Jr., Andrew Beaumont, " " 

Hyde, Beaumont, Jacob Drumheller, " . " 

" Drumheller, Elijah Sboemaker, " " 

Philander Stephens, Drumheller, G. M Hollenback, " 

Stephens, Hollenback, Samuel H. Thomas, " " 

" Thomas, Garrick Mallery, '' ■ " 

Almon H. Read, Mallery, George Denison, " " 

Isaac Post, " " " " " 

Almon H. Read, for Susquehanna alone. 
Bela Jones, " " " 

Joseph Williams, " ". 

Bela Jones, " " 

37, Asa Dimock, " " 

39, Chas. Chandler, Jr., " " 

Franklin Lusk, " " 

Dr. Calvin Leet, " " 

Franklin N. Avery, " " 

44, L,ewis Brush, Thomas Morley, for Susquehanna and Wyoming. 

46, David Thomas, Schuyler Fasset, " " 

48, Samuel Tagqart, R. R Little, " " 

Sidney B. Well's, E. Mowry, Jr., " " 



40 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1850, Isaac RecJchow, E Mowry, Jr., for Susquehanna, Wyoming, and Sullivan. 

1851, Isaac Reckhow, Michael Meylert, " " 

1852, Ezra B. Chase, John W. Denison, " " 

1853, Ezra B. Chase, James Deegan, " " 

1854, Charles J. Lathrop, John Sturdevant, " " 

1855, Thomas Ingham, John V. Smith, " " 

1856, Simeon B. Chase, Alfred Hine, " " 
1857-58, Simeon B. Chase, for Susquehanna alone. 
1859-60, George T. Frazier, " " 
1861-62, D. D. Warner, " " 

1863, George H. Wells, 

1864, George H. Wells and P. M. Osterhout, for Susquehanna and Wyoming. 

1865, J. T. Cameron, P. M. Osterhout, " 

1866, J. T. Cameron, Jacob Kennedy, " 

1867, Loren Burrilt, Ziba Lott, " 

1868, Loren Burritt, A. P. Stephens, " 

1869, A. P. Stephens, Harvey Tyler, " 

1870, E. B. Beardslee, A. B. Walker, " 

1871, E. B. Beardslee, M. Brunges, " 

1872, H. M. Jones, " 

MEMBERS FROM WESTMORELAND TO CONNECTICUT ASSEMBLY. 

April, 1774, Zebulon Butler, Timothy Smith. 
Sept. 1774, Christopher Avery, John Jenkins. 
April, 1775, Capt. Z. Butler, Joseph Sluman. 
Sept. 1775, Capt Z. Butler, Maj. Ezekiel Pierce. 
May, 1775, John Jenkins, Solomon Strong. 
Oct. 1776, Col. Z. Butler, Col. Nathan Denison. 
May, 1777, John Jenkins, Isaac Tripp. 
May, 177S, Nathan Denison, Anderson Dana. 
Oct. 1778, Col. N. Denison, Lieut. Asahel Buck. 
May, 1779, Col. N. Denison, Dea. John Hurlbut. 
May, 1780, John Hurlbut, Jonathan Fitch. 
Oct. 1780, Nathan Denison, John Hnrlbut. 
May, 1781, John Hurlbut, Jonathan Fitch. 
Oct. 1781, Obadiah Gore, Capt. John Franklin. 
May, 1782, Obadiah Gore, Jonathan Fitch. 
Oct. 1783, Obadiah Gore, Jonathan Fitch. 

MEMBERS FROM LUZERNE COUNTY TO PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY. 

COUNCIL. 

1787, 1788, and 1789, to the 9th of October, Nathan Denison. 30th of October, 

1789, to 20th of December, 1790, Lord Butler. 

On the 20th of December, 1790, the Council closed its session. 
The State was organized under the constitution of 1790, and a 
senate took the place of a council. 

As Susquehanna County was associated with Luzerne in 
choosing Legislators, previous to 1829, the following table of 
Senators and Eepresentatives to 1811, the year following the 
organization of the county, will be profitable for reference : — 

SENATE. 

1790, (with Northumberland and Huntington), William Montgomery. 
1792, William Hepburn. 

1794, George Wilson (with Northumberland, Mifflin, and Lycoming). 
1796, Samuel Dale (with Northumberland, Mifflin, and Lycoming). 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



41 



3798, Samuel McClay. 

1800, James Harris. 

1801, Jonas Hartzell (with Northampton and Wayne). 
1803, Thomas Mewhorter. 

1805, William Lattimore. 

1807, Matthias Gross. 

1808, Nathan Palmer (with Northumberland). 

1810, James Laird. 

HOUSE. 

Year of Election Given. 

1787, John Paul Schott. 

1788, 1789, and 1790, Ohadiah Gore. 
1791 and 1792, Simon Spaulding. 

1793, Ebenezer Bowman. 

1794, Benjamin Carpenter. 
1795 and 1796, John Franklin. 
1797 and 1798, Roswell Welles. 
1799 and 1800, John Franklin. 

1801, John Franklin, Lord Butler. 

1802, John Franklin, Roswell Welles. 

1803, John Franklin, John Jenkins. 
1S04, Roswell Welles, Jonas Ingham. 

1805, Roswell Welles, Nathan Beach. 

1806, Roswell Welles, Moses Coolbaugh. 

1807, Charles Miner, Nathan Beach.- 

1808, Charles Miner, Benjamin Dorrance. 
1809 and 1810, B. Dorrance, Thomas Graham. 

1811, Thomas Graham, Jonathan Stevens. 





TREASURERS. 


1812. 


Isaac Post. 


1843. 


David D. Warner. 


1815. 


David Post. 


1845. 


Walter Follett. 


1818. 


Justin Clark. 


1847. 


Harvey Tyler. 


1821. 


Charles Avery. 


1849. 


O. G. Hempstead. 


1824. 


Mason S. Wilson. 


1851. 


Wm. K. Hatch. 


1825. 


J. W. Raynsford. 


1853. 


D. R. Lathrop. 


1826. 


Hiram Finch. 


1855. 


S. A. Woodruff. 


1828. 


Davis Dimock, Jr. 


1857. 


C. W. Mott. 


1831. 


C. L. Ward. 


1859. 


D. W. Titus. 


1832. 


William Foster. 


1861. 


Amos Nichols. 


1834. 


Davis Dimock, Jr. 


1863. 


Nicholas Shoemaker 


1835. 


George Fuller. 


1865. 


Charles B. Dodge. 


1837. 


Henry J. Webb. 


1867. 


Richard V. Kennedy 


1839. 


Moses C. Tyler. 


1869. 


Benjamin Glidden. 


1841. 


Moses C. Tyler (elected). 


1871. 


Tracy Hayden. 



PROTHONOTARIES, CLERK OF COURTS, REGISTER, AND RECORDER. 

Dr. Charles Fraser held all these offices by appointment of 
Governor Snyder, from the organization of the county in 1812, 
four years. 

Jabez Hyde held all these appointments under Governors 
Snyder and Findley from December, 1816, four years; and 
Judge De Haert, who had been clerk for Dr. Fraser a part of 
his time, did all the writing as deputy for Mr. Hyde during 
his term. 



42 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Asa Dimock, Jr., was prothonotary and clerk of the courts, 
doing his own work, from January, 1821, under Governors 
Heister, Shulze, and Wolf; in all fifteen years. 

David Post was register and recorder (A. H. Eead and other 
deputies) under Governor Heister three years from January, 
1821. 

William Jessup was register and recorder under Governors 
Shulze and Wolf, nine years from January, 1824. Did the 
work mainly himself at first ; E. Kingsbury and others, stu- 
dents at law, were deputies some of the time. 

Christopher L.Ward was register and recorder under Gover- 
nor Wolf three years from January, 1833. Secku Meylert 
deputy a part of the time. 

George Walker was prothonotary, etc., under Governor Eitner 
three years from January, 1836. Did his own work mainly. 

Simon Stevens was register and recorder (S. Meylert deputy) 
the first year of Governor Eitner's term, and 

Charles Avery was appointed for the remainder of the term, 
and did his own work. 

George Fuller was prothonotary, and Hiram Finch register 
and recorder under Governor Porter in 1839. 

George Puller and H. Finch elected in 1839. 

John Blanding and " " 1842. 

u u a u it 1845i 

Fred. M. Williams and Charles L. Brown, 1848. 

Fred. A. Ward and J. T. Langdon, 1851. 

Sidney B. Wells and James W. Chapman, 1854. 

Geo. B. E. Wade and Charles Neale, 1857. 

Edwin M. Turner and Harmon K. Newell, 1860. 

Gabriel B. Eldred and Joseph H. McCain, 1863. 

" " J. F. Shoemaker, 1866. 

W. F. Simrell and Jerome E. Lyons, 1869. 

H. N. Tiffany, register and recorder, 1872. 

(Mr. Simrell died in 1870, and J. F. Shoemaker was appointed 
to fill the vacancy until the election of G. B. Eldred, the present 
incumbent.) 

Note. — All the registers and recorders from 1839 to 1869, and all the protho- 
notaries excepting Messrs. Ward and Wells, did their own work mainly, so far 
as one person could do it all. F. M. Williams served as deputy for the former 
exception, and J. T. Langdon, F. Fraser, and W. B. Wells for the latter. Miss 
Mary E. Lyons, sister of the present register and recorder, does the whole work 
in the recording of deeds. 

The work of transferring and rearranging the index books in the Offices of 
Record at Montrose, and in the Register's Office, was performed recently by J. B. 
Simmons and Miss Lottie Simmons. Some months were required for its com- 
pletion. The clerical execution was entrusted to the lady, and it will not suffer 
by comparison with the kindred work in the prothonotary's office. 

Some idea of the magnitude of the labor may be formed by considering that 
there are about forty-fire volumes of deeds alone, averaging about 800 pages of 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



43 



written matter to the volume, besides mortgages, records, letters of attorney, etc. 
The twenty-five or thirty books first examined and indexed, necessitated some- 
thing like 50,000 entries of grantors and grantees. The new indexes are supe- 
rior to the old ones for the reason that where many grantors or grantees are 
named in one conveyance, each name is indexed. Giving the acreage and 
location, necessitates a careful reference to each conveyance. 

COMMISSIONERS, AUDITORS, AND TREASURERS. 

County commissioners have always been elected annually ; 
after the first board, one every year to serve three years each ; 
and so following each other out in succession. 

Auditors in the same manner after 1814. None elected till 
1813, and then three for one year each. 

Treasurers were appointed annually by the commissioners 
till 1841 ; since which they have been elected once in two years. 
The following are the names of those who were elected to these 
offices in October of each year, or appointed in January fol- 
lowing. 

COMMISSIONERS. 



1812. 


Bartlet Hinds, 1 year. 


1842. 


Abel Hewitt. 


" 


LabaU Capron, 2 years. 


1843. 


Alonzo Williams. 


c< 


Isaac Brownson, 3 years. 


1844. 


Isaac Reckhow. 


1813. 


Jonah Brewster, 


1845. 


Jonas Carter. 


1814. 


Hosea Tiffany, Jr. 


1846. 


Nathaniel West. 


1815. 


Stephen Wilson. 


1847. 


Elisha P. Farnam. 


1816. 


Sylvanus Hatch. 


1848. 


David O. Turrell. 


1817. 


Daniel Ross. 


1849. 


John Murphy. 


1818. 


Philander Stephens. 


1850. 


Shubael Dimock. 


1819. 


Samuel Warner. 


1851. 


John Hancock. 


1820. 


Joseph Washburn. 


1852. 


Amos Williams. 


1821. 


Philo Bostwick. 


1853. 


Amherst Carpenter. 


1822. 


Hosea Tiffany, Jr. 


1854. 


Joseph Smith. 


1823. 


Simon Stephens. 


1855. 


Wm. T. Case. 


1824. 


Edward Packer. 


1856. 


Perrin Wells. 


1825. 


Charles Avery. 


1857. 


Orange Mott, Jr. 


1826. 


Walter Lyon. 


1858. 


Levi S. Page. 


1S27. 


Ansel Hill. 


1859. 


C. M. Stewart. 


1828. 


Joseph Williams. 


I860. 


J. B. Cogswell. 


1829. 


Wm. Hartley. 


1861. 


James Leighton. 


1830. 


Joseph Washburn. 


1862. 


Nelson French. 


1831. 


Calvin Summers. 


1863. 


John B. Wilson. 


1832. 


Arad Wakelee. 


1864. 


David Wakelee. 


1833. 


Jonathan C. Sherman. 


1865. 


J. T. Ellis. 


1834. 


Cyrus H. Avery. 


1866. 


B. M. Gage. 


1835. 


Charles Tingley. 


1867. 


Samuel Sherer. 


1836. 


Robert Griffis. 


1868. 


J. T. Ellis, second time 


1837. 


John Comfort. 


1869. 


Preserved Hinds. 


1838. 


Edward Heald. 


1870. 


Edward L. Beebe. 


1839. 


Thomas Burdick. 


1871. 


Oscar Washburn. 


1840. 


Nathaniel Norris. 


1872. 


Lyman Blakeslee. 


1841. 


Wm. G. Handrick. 







Col. Thomas Parke and Hosea Tiffany, Esq., were commis- 
sioners for Luzerne County before this county was set off. 



44 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



COMMISSIONERS' CLERKS. 

Jonah Brewster was appointed for the first year, 1813, and Dr. Asa Park for 
the second. 

Almon H. Read was clerk five years from January, 1815. 

Bela Jones deputy part of the time. 

"William Jessup six years from January, 1820. 

George Fuller three years and two months from January, 1 8 '2 6 . 

E. Kingsbury, Jr., one year and ten months from March, 1829. 

B. Streeter eight months and J. W. Chapman four months of 1831. 

Davis Dimock, Jr. for 1832. Charles Avery for 1833. 

Secku Meylert seven years from January, 1834. Asa Dimock for 1841. 

Robert J. Niven eleven years and four months from January, 1842. 

William A. Crossmon from May, 1853, to present time. 

Remarks. — For the information of those who desire to know 
what townships have furnished commissioners for the county, 
and how many each (for it is desirable that these officers should 
be somewhat distributed), it may be seen that 

Bridgewater, having them so frequently at first, has had in 
all, counting Mr. Sherman, who was afterwards cut off into 
Jessup, viz., Messrs. Hinds, Brewster, Wilson, Stephens, War- 
ner, Joseph Williams, Sherman, Wells. 

Harford, Capron, Tiffany twice, Tingley, Carpenter. 

Rush, Brownson, Ross, Griffis, now in Jessup. 

Gibson, J. Washburn twice, Case, 0. Washburn. 

Great Send, Reckhow, Hatch. 

Springville, Stephens (afterwards in Dimock), Wakelee. 

Apolacon, Amos Williams, P. Hinds (Little Meadows). 

Middletown, Bostwick, Handrick, Wilson. 

Brooklyn, Packer, Hewitt. 

Herrick, Lyon, Dimock, Ellis. 

Silver Lake, Hill, Murphy, Gage. 

Lenox, Hartley, Farnam. 

Clifford, Burdick, Stewart. 

Jackson, Norris, French. 

Auburn, C. H. Avery, Carter, Coggswell. 

Jessup, Hancock, Smith (besides Sherman and Griffis). 

Franklin, Alonzo Williams, Leighton, Beebe. 

And the following towns have had one each : Montrose, Chas. 
Avery ; New Milford, Summers ; Harmony, Comfort ; Ghoconut 
(afterwards Apolacon), Heald ; Liberty, Turrell ; Thomson (since 
Ararat), West; Forest Lake, Mott; Susquehanna, Page; Dimock, 
Samuel Sherer ; Oakland and Lathrop have never had a commis- 
sioner, nor has Ghoconut or Thomson within their present limits. 

SHERIFFS AND CORONERS. 

The election for sheriffs and coroners has always been for 
three years each. They have been as follows : — 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



45 



18T2. 
1815. 

1818. 
1821. 
1824. 
1827. 
1830. 
1833. 
1836. 
1839. 
1842. 
1845. 
1848. 
1851. 
1854. 
1857. 
1860. 
1863. 
1866. 
1869. 
1872. 



Edward Fuller. 
Austin Howell. 
Samuel Gregory. 
Philander Stephens. 
Samuel Gregory. 
Charles Chandler, Jr. 
Joseph Williams. 
Charles Avery. 
William Hartley. 
Walter Follett. 
Thomas Johnson. 
Nelson C. Warner. 
Christopher M. Gere. 
Gabriel B. Eldred. 
Fred. P. Hollister. 
John Young. 
Elias V. Green. 
David Summers. 
S. F. Lane. 
Wm. T. Moxley. 
M. B. Helme. 



Stephen Wilson. 
Philander Stevens. 
Chapman Carr. 
Daniel Trowbridge. 
Charles Chandler, Jr. 
Benjamin J. Dimock. 
Davis D. Warner 
Hiram Finch. 
Walter Follet. 
Thomas Johnson. 
Jonas Carter. 
Wm. B. Handrick. 
John Baker. 
William H. Boyd. 
Benjamin Dix. 
Dr. J. Blackman. 
Dr. C. C. Halsey. 
Dr. Braton Richardson. 
Dr. L. A. Smith. 
Dr. C. C. Halsey. 
Dr. C. C. Halsey. 



COUNTY SURVEYORS. 



Prior to 1827, Susquehanna County was connected with some 
other county (Bradford?), as a deputy-surveyor's district. In 
1827, the surveyor-general appointed Adolpbus D. Olmstead 
his deputy for Susquehanna County ; in 1830, J. ~W. Chapman; 
in 1833, John Boyle; in 1836, Issachar Mann; in 1839-1847, 
John Boyle ; in 1847, 0. S. Beebe. • County surveyors first 
elected in 1850, O. S. Beebe ; in 1853, Timothy Bovle ; in 1856, 
Joel Turrell ; in 1859, Wilson J. Turrell ; in 1862-65-68, J. W. 
Chapman; in 1871, O. S. Beebe. 



46 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Attorneys from other Counties Admitted to the Bar of Susquehanna 
County, from the Year 1813 to 1840. 



When Admitted. 



1813, Jan. Term 



1813, Apr. Term 
1813, Aus. Term 



1813, Nov. Term 

1814, Aug. Term 

1817, Sept. Term 

1818, May Term 

1818, Dec. Term 

1819, Aug. 31 

1819, Sept. 2 

1820, Jan. 31 
1821, Jan. 29 

1821, Feb. 2 
1S21, Sept. Term 



1824, Feb. Term 

1824, Aug. Term 

1825, Aug. Term 

1826, Sept. Term 
1826, Dec. Term 



1830, 
1830, 
1831, 
1833, 
1834, 
1835, 
1836, 
1840, 



May 
Aug. 
Aug. 
Dec. 
Dec. 
May 
May 
Nov. 



Term 
Term 
Term 
Term 
Term 
Term 
Term 
Term 



Names 








Counties. 


Eben'r Bowman .... 


Luzerne. 


David Scott 








it 


Garrick Mallery 








u 


Nathan Paltrier 








u 


Putnam Catlin' 








it 


Henry Wilson . 








(( 


Elihu Baldwin 








Bradford. 


Roswell Welles 








Luzerne. 


Alpheus C. Stewart 








" 


George Denison 








a 


Thomas Graham 








it 


John Evans 








it 


Thomas Dyer . 








a 


Edward Herrick 2 








Bradford. ' 


Luther Barstow 








u 


Thomas B. Overton 








Luzerne, Bradford. 


Josiah H. Minor 








Wayne. 


Nathaniel B. Eldred 








t< 


Thomas Welles 










Amzi Fuller 








Wayne. 


Horace Williston 3 








Bradford. 


Latham A. Burrows 










Oristus Collins 








Luzerne. 


Chester Butler 








a 


John N. Conyngham 






it 


Simon Gages Throop 






i< 


Dan Dimmick . 






Pike. 


James W. Bowman . 






Luzerne. 


Thomas W. Morris . 






(£ 


Stephen Strong 






Oswego. 


Wm. Seymour . 








Henry Pettebone 






Luzerne. 


Benjamin A. Bidlack 






" 


Thomas Fuller 






Wayne. 


Ezra S. Sweet . 






Owego. 


David Woodcock 








George B. Westcott . 






Wayne. 


Robert Charles Johuson 






Broome. 


George W. Woodward 






Luzerne. 


Volney L. Maxwell . 






u 


Luther Kidder . 






K 


David Wilmot . 






Bradford. 


Lewis Jones 






Luzerne. 


Hendrick B. Wright 






a 


And about twenty-fii 


relat< 


;r adr 


aissi's 





' 1787, first Court. May 29. In 179-1, when he and E. Bowman, the only lawyers 
in Luzerne, declined to serve, two lawyers from Connecticut were imported. 

3 Now President Judge. 

3 Horace Williston was a nntive of Sheffield, Conn., and the youngest brother of 
the late Seth Williston, D.D. He studied law in Elmira ; practiced in Binghamton, 
and also ifi Susquehanna County courts, many years, even after his removal to 
Athens, Bradford County. He was eminent in his profession, and distinguished for 
strict integrity and love of justice. He was President Judge of the Thirteenth 
Judical District. He died August 14, 1855. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 
List of Students and Resident Lawyers. 



47 



When Adm'd 


Names. 


With whom Studied. 


Remarks. 


1S14, Apr. 


Charles Catlin. 


Attorney from Luzerne. 


Became a resident ab't 1819. 


1S16, Sept. 


Almon H. Bead. 


Attorney in Vt. Ex'd. 


Representative in Congress 
1S42. Died 1843. 


1S17, May 5 


Benjamin T. Case. 


Attorney in Bradford Co. 


Came to M. in 1816. Died 
here in 1S62. 


1818, Dec. 


George Catlin. 


At Wilkes- Barre (?) 


Examined. Became an artist. 


1S20, Feb. 2 


William Jessup. 


A. H. Read. 


President Judge. 


1S21, Apr. 


Balthazer De Haert. 




Deputy Prothonotary. 


1S23, Feb. 3 


James A. Gordon. 




Montrose. Removed. 


1S26, May I 


Earl Wheeler. 




Dundaff. Ed'r. Removed. 


1S2S, Sept. 1 


Benjamin Parke. 


Attorney from Harrisburg. 


Ret. to M. in 1S63. Farmer. 


1828, Sept. "2 


Ebeuezer Kingsbury, Jr. 


Wm. Jessup. 


App. Dep. Att'y-Gen'l 1830, 


1830, Aug. 30 


Barzillai Streeter. 




Montrose. 


1830, Nov. 29 


John J. Wurts. 




" 


1830, Dec. 3 


Cephas J. Dunham. 


Attorney from Northampton. 


Here a year or two. 


1S31, Jan. 31 


Franklin Lusk. 




State Rep. Died Feb. 1S53. 


" 


Norman I. Post. 




Became a merchant. Died. 


1S31, Aug. 30 


Rinaldo D. Parker. 




Dead. 


1S32, May 1 


William Wurts. 


J. J. Wurts. 


Removed. 


1832, Apr. 30 


Thomas P. Phinney. 


Attorney from Luzerne. 


Dundaff. Dep. Atl'y-Gen'l. 


1S33, 


Davis Dimock, Jr. 


B. T. Case. 


Rep. in Cong. 1S10. D'iedlS42 


1833, 


Albert L. Post*. 


Wm. Jessup. 


Baptist minister. Dep. At- 
torney 1836. 


1831, Nov! 17 


Wm. C. Tiffany. 


B. T. Case. 


Harford. 


1836, Mav 5 


James C. Biddle. 


Wm. Jessup. 


Did not practice. Died 1841. 


1836, Nov. 22 


Ralph B. Little. 


Wheeler, Case, & D. Wilrnot 
Dimock. 


Oldest practicing lawyer. 


1S37, 


Chris' r L. Ward. 


Wm. Jessup. 


Removed to Bradford Co. 
Died 1S70. 


1837, 


Philip Fraser. 


" ■ 


U. S. Dis. Judge. Florida. 


1S3S, May 8 


Joseph T. Richards. 




Practiced 12 years. Died ia 
Cal. 1S.53. 


" 


Harris W. Patrick. 


A. L. Post. 


Removed to Bradford Co. 


1S3S, 


Lyman De Wolf. 


Attorney from Bradford. 


Frieudsville. Removed. 


1S38, Sept. 4 


Ariel Carr. 


A. L. Post. 






Wm. J. Turrell. 


" 


District-Attorney. Speaker 
Penn. Senate 1S62-1865. 


" 


Robert J. Niven. 


Wm Jessup. 




1S39, Feb. 5 


Benjamin S. Bentley. 


" 


President Judge (vacancy) at 
Williamsport. 


" 


J. R. Barstow. 


" 


Practiced in Bradford Co. 


1839, May 8 


Sylvester Abel. 


" 


Practiced and died at Ann 






Arbor, Mich. 


1S40, Apr. 27 George H. Welles. 


- 


Prac. in Wilkes-Barre. Rep- 
resentative from Gibson. 


" |Almon Virgil. 


Attorney from Warren. 


Baptist minister. 


1810, Nov. Sabin Hatch. 


F. Lusk. 


Justice of the peace. Died. 


1811, Apr. 20 Peter Byrne. 




Removed to Scranton. 


" Farris B. Streeter. 

1 


Davis Dimock, Jr. 


District-Attorney. President 
Judge, 13th Judicial Dist. 


1841, Aug. 18 S. S. N. Fuller. 


F. Lusk. 


Removed to the West. 


1S42, Apr. .Franklin Fraser. 


Wm. Jessup. 


District-Attorney 6 years. 


" lEzra Maxon. 




Lenox. Removed to the 
West. Dead. 


Wm. C. Salmon. 


F. Lusk. 


Removed to Milford. Dead. 


1843, Aug. 21 ! Albert Chamberlin. 


Bentley & Richards. 


District Attorney, 6 years, 
J ustice Peace, V. S. Asses- 
sor. Rem. to Scranton. 


Benjamin F. Smith. 






William Fordham. 


Wm. J. Turrell & A. Carr. 


Removed to Chicago. 


1814, Aug. 19 John H. Dimock. 


D. Dimock, Jr. 


Dist. Att'y 1850 (First elect.) 


" .Samuel B Mulford. 


Wm. Jessup. 


Died in California. 


iGeorge Perkins. 


A. L. Post. 


Fond-du-Lac, Wis. 


JCharles Kellum. 


F. Lusk 


Removed to Sycamore, 111. 


1S44, George Baldwin. 


Attorney from N. Y. 


Great Bend. 


1S45, Aug. 19 Naham Newton. 


Bentley & Richards. 


Dead. 


1847, Apr. 19 Galusha A. Grow. 


Little & Streeter. 


Speaker 37th Congress. Rep- 
resentative 12 years. 


1847, Aug. 16 John H. McKune. 


B. S. Bentley. 


Pres. Judge iu California. 


1817, Nov. 15 E. Henry Little. 


Attorney from Wayne. 


Here a short time. Removed 
to Illinois. 


1848, Apr. 17 


Owen B. Tyler. 


R. B. Little. 


Died in California. 



48 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

List of Students and Resident Lawyers. — Continued. 



When Adm'd 


Names. 


With whom Studied. 


Remarks. 


1818, Aug. 


21 


La Fayette Fitch. 
Homer H. Frazier. 
John C. Truesdell. 


B. S. Bentley. 
R. B. Little. 


State Senator, 1871. 

Ed. Independent Republican 


1849, Aug. 


20 


Philo C. Gritman. 




Dundaff. 


1849, Aug. 


21 


John C. Fish. 




District Attorney, 1S52. Gt. 
Bend. Farmer. 


1850, Aug. 


19 


Ezra B. Chase. 


F. B. Streeter. 


State Representative, 1S52-3. 


" 




John C. Miller. 


Wm. Jessup. 


Died at the West. 


" 




Martin L. Truesdell. 


B. S. Bentley. 


Liberty. Farmer. 


1851, Jan. 


22 


Simeon B. Chase. 


F. B. Streeter. 


Rem. to G. Bend& N. Milford 


1851, Nov. 


17 


William H. Jessup. 
William H. Cooper. 
Leonard B. Hinds. 
Lucius Robinson, Jr. 
3. Clark Lyman. 


Wm. Jessup. 

F. B. Streeter. 
B. S. Bentley. 


Banker. 

Rem. to Susquehanna Depot. 


1852, Aug. 


ie 


Andrew J. Davis. 


E. B. Chase. 




1S.31, Jan. 


16 


Frederick A. Case. 


B. T. Case. 




1855, Aug. 


20 


Urial C. Johnson. 

J. Brewster McColluin. 


W. J. Turrell. 
R. B. Little. 


Removed. 


1S55, Not. 


19 


C. Judson Richardson. 


Jessups. 


Chicago. 


3 855, Nov. 


2d 


Albert Bushnell. 


B. S. Bentley. 


Died Feb. 1S61, at Susq. Dep. 


1S56, Apr. 


7 


Wm. M. Post. 


R. B. Little. 


Rem. to Susquehanna Depot. 


1S57, Aug. 


17 


H. L. Emmons. 


Jessups. 




1S57, Nov. 


16 


C. A. Lyman. 


S. B. Chase. 




1S5S, Aug. 


16 


Ira Vadakin. 


Attorney from Wayne. 


Dealer in marble. Montrose. 


1859, Aug. 


15 


Truman L. Case. 


Jessups. 


Removed. 


1859, Nov. 


21 


Alfred Hand. 
Daniel W. Searle. 
Orlando C. Tiffany. 


it 


Removed to Scranton. 
District Attorney, 1S65-71. 


" 




Wm. D. Lusk. 


Little & Post, Sam'l Sherrod. 


Removed to Scranton. 


1859, 




F. E. Loomis. 


Jessups. 


X il 


1860, Aug. 


20 


B. S. Bentley, Jr. 
Mile- J. Wilson. 


Bentley & Fitch. 
R. B. Little. 




" 




Rieuzi Streeter. 


F. B. Streeter. 


In Colorado. 


" 




Casper W. Tyler. 


" 


Ed'r in Meadville. 


1860, 




David A. Baldwin. 


Attorney from N. Y. 


Great Bend. Dead. 


1S62, Jan. 


20 


Isaac J. Post. 


Jessups. 


Removed to Scranton. 


1S62, Aug. 


11 


E. W. Smith. 


J. B. McCollum. 




1862, Aug. 


22 


A. O. Warren. 
U. F. Hollenback. 


F. B. Streeter. 
Beutley & Fitch. 




1S62, Aug. 


25 L. M. innell. 


R. B. Little. 




1863, Apr. 


6 


Wm. A. House. 
George P. Little. 


*' 


Rep. From New Jersey. 


1863, Nov. 


25 


Edwin M. Turner. 


Attorney from Wyoming. 


Prothonotary. Removed. 


1S65, Apr. 


3 


James Edward Carmalt. 


Lew School, Cambridge, F. 
B. Streeter, and Jessups. 


Elected District Attorney, 
October, 1S71. 


1S66, Aug. 


13 


Jonathan J. Wright. 


Bentley & Fitch. 


Colored. Delegate to Con'l 
Convention. Judge of Su- 
preme Ct. S. Car. First 
colored man admitted to 
practice in Pennsylvania. 


1S66, Nov. 


12 


William H. Frink. 

Aaron Watson Bertholf. 


A. Chamherlin. 

Bentley, Fitch & Bentley. 




1S6S, Apr. 


17 


Thomas H. B. Lyons. 


J. B. McCollum. 


Removed. 


1S6S, Aug. 


10 


Charles L. Catlin. 


Attorney from D. C. 




]S6S, Aug. 


21 


Monroe J. Lavrabee. 


W. J. Turrell. 


Susquehanna Depot. 


186S, Nov. 


9 


William A. Crossman. 
Byron O. Camp. 
Willoughby W. Watson. 
HnnttingC. Jessup. 


F. B. Streeter. 
J. B. McCollum. 
L. F. Fitch. 
Wm. H. Jessup. 


Commissioners' clerk, 20 yrs. 


1869, Apr. 


12 


Charles A. Warren. 
E. L. Blakeslee. 


A. O. Warren. 

Michigan Union Law School, 
and Littles. 




1869, Aug. 


9 


Alex. H- McCollum. 


J. B. McCollum. 




1S69, Nov. 


16 


George H. Allen. 


Attorney from Luzerne. 


Harford. 


1870, Apr. 


27 


Eugene 15. Hawley. 


Wm. D. Lusk. 


Editor Montrose Democrat. 


1870, Aug. 


17 


Benjamin L. Baldwin. 


Jessups, Crossmon. 




1S71, Aug. 


15 


Edgar A. Turrell. 


Attorney N. Y. Sup. Court. 


Removed to New York. 


1871, Oct. 


17 


C. E Baldwin. 




Great Bend. 


1 872, Jan. 


8 


Stanley N. Mitchell. 
J. Ferris Shoemaker. 


Carmalt, Crossmon. 
Jessups, Crossmon. 


Removed. 


1872, Nov. 


11 


J. T. Richards. 
Wilbur F. Lathrop. 


Wm. A. Crossmon. 
Littles & Blakeslee. 





HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 49 



CHAPTER VII. 

TOWNSHIP ANNALS. 
GREAT BEND. V 

In November, 1814, the township previously known as Wil- 
lingborough received from the court the name of Great Bend 
on petition of several of its residents. It was then but a section 
of the original township, which, March, 1791, was formed from 
the northeast corner of old Tioga, Luzerne County, and which 
was the first taken from the two townships then comprising the 
territory afterwards set off to Susquehanna County. 

Willingborough, in 1791, was so far from the seat of justice 
— Wilkes-Barre — that it appears to have received little attention 
for two years; the only record of it being the appointment of 
viewers to lay out a road within its limits. These seem not to 
have been actually defined until April, 1793, when the line waa 
ordered thus: — 

" From the twenty-first mile-stone on the north line of the State, south six 
miles ; thence east until it shall intersect the line to be run between Luzerne 
and Northampton Counties ; thence north to the State line ; thence west to 
the place of beginning." 

This made the township sis miles north and south, by fifteen 
miles east and west; but, practically, or as an election district, 
until the erection of New Milford, it extended over the area of 
the latter as originally defined, and, in all, covered one-quarter 
or more of the present county. 

Perhaps no section of Susquehanna County has scenery more 
beautifully diversified than that included in old Willingbo- 
rough — now Harmony, Oakland, and Great Bend. Here the 
Susquehanna Kiver flows around the base of a spur of the Alle- 
ghanies, of which the lower outline is marked by a number of 
rounded peaks of great beauty ; the higher, by the two mountains 
of the vicinity bearing their original Indian names — Ouaquaga, 1 

1 In reference to the correct orthography of this word, J. Du Bois, Esq., says : 
" There is now a post-office of this name on the north side of this mountain, near 
the village of Windsor, N. Y., and by reference to any post-office register you 
will find it written as above. When I was a child, I remember standing before 
the guide post at the forks of the road a few rods beyond the three (Indian) apple 
trees, on which was a finger-board marked thus : [giF*10 Ms. to Ouaquapha, 
and of myself and other children puzzling our brains in trying to make out 
how those letters could make the then accepted pronunciation, Ochquago. 
4 



50 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

and Miantinomah. 1 It is regretted that the signification of 
these names cannot be given here, or that of the smooth flowing 
Canawacta, or more bubbling-voiced Starrucca — fitting streams 
to run among such hills as face Ouaquaga Mountain. 

In one of the sketches of this vicinity recently published by 
Joseph Du Bois, Esq., of Great Bend, and kindly contributed to 
this compilation, he says : — 

" Most of our hills were named after those first-settlers, who made improve- 
ments near their bases, as Trowbridge Hill, Wylie Hill, Strong Hill, Fish 
Hill, etc. 

" The Indians once had beautiful names for them all; their foot-trail alone 
crossed these summits in search of the haunts of game ; then the moose, the 
elk, the deer, grazed upon these hills, and were to the Indian hunter his 
main subsistence. Many a time did their tops blaze with the signal fires of 
the Indians as the enemy approached ; and now how changed ! The stately 
pines that once adorned tbeir summits have fallen before the ax of the lum- 
berman, and those larger animals that once roved in comparative security 
have either been exterminated, or have fled before the advance of civilization 
to more secure hiding places. Ascend our hills now, peep into those dark 
caves in those frowning ledges of rock — these were once the dens of the 
savage panther, the crafty and ravenous wolf, and the fierce and surly bear; 
these have all gone, and only the survivors of civilization remain. These 
caves are now the home of the wild cat, the fox, the raccoon, and the rabbit, 
and they will remain with us until our improvements reach these mountain 
tops." 

To the hills mentioned above, may be added Du Bois's Hill 
(from which the vicinity of Binghamton can be seen), Baker's 
Hill, between that and Strong Hill, and Battlesnake Hill, across 
the Susquehanna. The latter is divided from Locust Hill by 
Newman's Creek, and from Trowbridge Hill by Trowbridge 
Creek. Denton Brook skirts the eastern base of Locust Hill, 
emptying into the Susquehanna at Taylortown. Between this 
place and Eed Eock, Mitchell's Creek joins the river on the 
south side, and divides the unbroken wilderness of" Egypt" from 
another elevated forest, which terminates in Turkey Hill in 
Oakland. The creek received its name from a settler near its 
mouth prior to 1795. 

The valley of the Salt Lick is rich in beauty and culture, and 
appears to be the only settled portion of the township south of 
the river, except in its immediate vicinity, and along Wylie 
Creek, near the western boundary. Wylie Hill is separated by 
the latter creek from Strong Hill, and on the north by Ives's 
(formerly Bates's) Creek, from Baptist Hill. 

Following Wylie Creek from Liberty to Great Bend, the 
traveler on approaching the village is met by a landscape of 

Whoever painted that finger-board must have been familiar with the Indian 
pronunciation, and spelled it as nearly as he could to represent it." 

1 The name of a war-chief, and of an iron-clad steamer of our navy that was 
the flag-ship of the late Admiral Farragut on his recent visit to the East. 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 51 

exquisite beauty, and hardly inferior to it is the view obtained 
in descending the Salt Lick. 

A western gentleman, while recently passing over the Erie 
Eailroad in the vicinity of Great Bend, exclaimed, " This equals 
the Sierra Nevada I" 

There are no lakes in the township. There were formerly 
manv willows on the banks of the Susquehanna, but the basket- 
makers have cut them down. Sarsaparilla, the white snake- 
root, and black cohosh, and a number of medicinal herbs, are 
common. This locality appears to have first attracted the notice 
of the white man during the Eevolutionary War. 

From a sketch prepared by Mr. Du Bois, we retain the follow- 
ing : — 

"A part of General Sullivan's army, under command of GeneralJames Clin- 
ton, encamped on the banks of the Susquehanna at Great Bend in the summer 
of 1779. The Six Nations (with the exception of the Oneidas), incited by- 
British Agents and British gold, joined the British and tories of the Revo- 
lution, in their murderous assaults upon the border settlements. In order to 
check their attacks, General Sullivan, with a portion of his army, was sent 
up the Susquehanna by the way of Wyoming to the mouth of the Chemung 
River, where he awaited the arrival of General Clinton, who proceeded from 
Mohawk to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, and from thence down the 
river." 

[Mr. DuBois had the pleasure of reading many years ago, the 
MS. diary of one of General Clinton's officers, and relies on his 
memory of its contents, in relating what follows.] 

" When General Clinton arrived at the head of the river, Otsego Lake, he 
found the water very low, and the navigation of the Susquehanna, on rafts, 
as intended, impracticable. In order to raise the water, it was decided to 
build a dam at the foot of the lake, which some of the soldiers under the 
directions of the officers proceeded to do, while others were detailed to con- 
struct timber rafts below, upon which the army was to descend the river. 
When the dam was completed, the rafts being ready, and a sufficient quan- 
tity of water having accumulated in the lake, the flood-gates were opened, away 
sped the fleet of rafts, with their noble burden, amid the loud cheers of the 
soldiers. 

" Very soon new troubles arose, for not one of these 1600 men knew any- 
thing about navigating the Susquehanna. The Indian canoe only had here- 
tofore broken the stillness of its waters, consequently some of the many rafts 
were at almost every turn brought to a stand-still by the bars and shallows 
of the river. These " shipwrecks," as the soldiers called them, produced 
shouts of mirth and laughter from those who were more fortunate in drifting 
clear of the shoals ; but, as the water was rapidly rising from the great supply 
in the lake above, these stranded rafts were soon afloat again, and very soon 
were passing some of those rafts which had first passed them, and from 
whose crews came shouts of derisive laughter, and now were stranded in like 
manner. Both officers and men emjoyed this novel campaign on rafts down 
the beautiful Susquehanna (to use the officer's word) "highly." He said 
that, notwithstanding they had to keep a sharp lookout for the " Red Skins," 
it did not in the least mar the great enjoyment of the sports of this rafting 
expedition ; fishing, frolic, and fun were the order of the day. Nothing worthy 
of mention happened to the expedition on their way to this place, and here, 



52 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

on a bright summer day, in 1779, they landed to pass the night, and to allow 
some of the dilatory rafts to come up, and here at Great Bend, on the Flats 
near the "Three Indian Apple Trees," General James Clinton's army en- 
camped, and here for one night, at least, brightly bnrned the camp fires of 
1600 of the soldiers of the Revolution. The officer in his diary says of the 
three Indian Apple Trees which they found here, that they then bore the 
marks of great age. There were no Indians seen here by them, although 
there was every indication of their having only recently left. The next day 
they went on board of their rafts and proceeded down the river. 

Of the venerable trees mentioned above, only one is now- 
standing, the second having fallen within a short time after the 
compiler visited the spot in the summer of 1869. The trunk 
was then entirely hollow, and a person might stand in it; but 
its decay had been gracefully concealed, in part, by a circle of 
trained morning-glories exhibiting a thoughtful care and touch- 
ing reverence for a relic of the past, which is linked with " a 
race that has had no faithful historian." 

Thtc Painted Rocks. — About two miles above the village of Great Bend, 
the Susquehanna River is quite narrow, with high rocks on each side of the 
stream. It seems as if by some great convulsion of nature, a passage had 
been opened through the mountain of rock for the passage of the river, form- 
ing high precipices on each side of the stream. The Erie Railroad, by their 
improvement, have cut away the rock on the north side, thus destroying the 
original beauty of this once interesting spot. The top of the cliffs were once 
covered with trees and a thick undergrowth, and many a deer while fleeing 
before the hounds has unwittingly taken the fatal leap from the top of this 
precipice. And the wary fox, too, fleeing before the pursuing loud-mouthed 
beagles, has from these cliffs taken his last leap, being dashed upon the fro- 
zen river below. 

This romantic locality was known to the early settlers as the Painted 
Rocks, from the fact, that, high upon the face of one of these cliffs, and far 
above the reach of man, was the painted figure of an Indian Chief. The out- 
lines of this figure were plainly visible to the earliest white visitors of this 
valley ; but long after the outlines had faded, the red, which predominated 
in this figure, still remained ; this in after years caused the inhabitants not 
familiar with the early history to call the place " Red Rock," and by that 
name it is known to this day. As to how and when this once beautiful 
painting was made on these rocks, at a place, too, apparently inaccessible 
to man, has been the subject of much mystery and many conjectures, for this 
full-length portrait was evidently done by a skilful artist's hand, long be- 
fore the whites had settled in these parts. 1 

Before the settlement of Susquehanna County, according to a 
statement in 'Wilkinson's Annals of Binghamton,' "a purchase 
was made of the Susquehanna valley from the Great Bend to 
Tioga Point, by five gentlemen of Philadelphia, viz., Messrs. 
Thomas, Bingham, Hooper, Wilson, and Coxe. Thomas's 
patent embraced the Bend, and extended six miles down the 
river; then Bingham's patent, extending from Thomas's west- 
ern line to two or three miles beyond the village of Bingham- 

1 By J. Du Bois, Esq. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 53 

ton, two miles wide, lying equally on both sides of the river." 
No account of the Thomas patent can be found at Harrisburg. 

Mr. Wilkinson adds, that when Joshua and William Whitney 
came, in 1787, to the valley of the Chenango, near its junction 
with the Susquehanna Eiver, they found two or three families 
living at Great Bend. 1 These were doubtless the Strongs at 
the west bend, the Comstocks at the east bend (now Harmony), 
and the Bucks between them at Red Rock. At least these 
families might have been found there, in the fall of 1787. It 
is known that the first two families preceded the last named, 
though it is not positively stated which one of the two was 
first in the vicinity; but Ozias Strong, formerly of Lee, Mass., 
was the first settler, so far as can now be ascertained, within 
the limits of the present town of Great Bend, and the first 
resident purchaser of land under Pennsylvania title. 

Besides the above, the only settlers now known to have been 
here, in 1788, were Enoch Merry man and wife, and their son 
Bishop and his wife; Nathaniel Gates and wife with five chil- 
dren, and three sons-in-law — Jedediah Adams, David Lilly, and 
William Coggswell, with their wives : Jonathan Bennett (in 
Oakland first) with his sons Jonathan and James, and his sons- 
in-law, Asa Adams and Stephen Murch, with Thomas Bates 
and Simeon Wylie, sons-in-law of Rev. Daniel Buck. All had 
families. 

In 1789, John Baker, a native of Hatfield, Massachusetts, 
came to Great Bend, at the age of twenty-four, and soon after 
married Susanna, a daughter of Ozias Strong. 

The public records of Luzerne County show, that Ozias 
Strong, June 9, 1790, bought of Tench Francis, for one hundred 
and thirty pounds sterling, four hundred and fifty-three acres of 
land north of the river, in the vicinity of the present Great 
Bend bridge. Two days later, Benajah Stroug (possibly a 
brother of Ozias) bought, of the same landholder, six hundred 
and one acres, south of the river, on both sides of the mouth 
of the Salt Lick. This tract was sold by B. Strong, September 
21, 1791, to Minna Du Bois and Seth Putnam, for seven hun- 
dred pounds sterling. Minna Du Bois was made attorney for 
his brother Abraham, of Philadelphia, June 23, 1791. 

On the same day of Ozias Strong's purchase, Tench Francis 
gave deeds to other parties. Ichabod, Enoch, and Benjamin 
Buck bought of him one hundred acres for one hundred and 
twenty-five pounds. 

1 The village which soon clustered around the Whitneys was supplanted 
after a few years by the settlement at Chenango Point, now Binghamton. This 
was laid out into village lots in 1800. A saw-mill was erected in 1788, on Castle 
Creek, and a grist-mill, in 1790, on Fitch's Creek, in the town of Couklin. 
These were the first mills in all the region. See 'Annals of Binghamton.' 



54 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Elisha Leonard 1 had lands adjoining Ozias Strong's (which 
adjoined S. Murch's), and Edward Davis's also adjoined lands of 
E. Leonard's. 

But few items have been preserved of the families who came 
to Great Bend before 1790. The Merry mans were here when 
Nathaniel Gates came. The latter had lived, previous to 1778, 
at Wyoming, though he was from home, engaged in his coun- 
try's service, when the massacre took place. Mrs. Gates fled 
with others to the mountains, and finally reached Connecticut, 
with her seven children, where she was afterwards joined by 
her husband. One child being sick, during her flight, was 
carried by a neighbor ; while Mrs. Gates carried another in her 
arms and one on her back — the rest were able to walk. 

The family had lived in Wayne County before coming to 
Great Bend. Three children of N. Gates were drowned in the 
Susquehanna, but their bodies were recovered and buried at 
Great Bend, February 16, 1791. 

Polly, daughter of Asa Adams, and two young men of the 
Strong family, and Samuel March, and his sister Polly, had 
been drowned, previously, in the same stream. [No name 
occurs more frequently among the early wives and sisters than 
Polly — always a synonym for Mary.] 

Not far from this time, a son of Mr. Gates, who had been 
taken prisoner by the Indians while the family lived on the 
Delaware, escaped and reached Philadelphia where he learned 
the whereabouts of his parents. He came on via Mt. Pleasant, 
from which there were only marked trees to guide him, the 
snow being twelve inches deep. When within a hundred rods 
of a hunter's shanty, where Phinney's hotel now stands, in New 
Milford, his strength gave out. He was about to lie down in 
despair, when he saw the sparks from the shanty, which so 
revived him he was able to get there ; but he could not speak, 
so badly was he frozen. He was able, at length, to tell where 
his friends were — about six miles distant; and the hunter, after 
two or three days, managed to notify them, when they took him 
home ; but, for days, his life was despaired of. 

James Parmeter may have been here as early as some of 
those previously mentioned, but was not here when the Bucks 

came. 

i 
" He built his 'log cabin' on the south side of the Susquehanna,, near the 
south end of the present bridge across the river. For some time he sub- 

1 "Not many rods from the farm house of the late Abraham Du Bois, on the 
place formerly owned by Seelye and Daniel Trowbridge, there is a fine spring 
of fresh water, clear as a crystal, always flowing, never freezing in winter, but 
cold as ice-water. This spring, since my earliest recollections, has been called, 
and is well known to this day, as Leonard's spring. My father (A. Du Bois) 
told me it was named after an early settler ; and I think the one named above." 
J. D. B. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 55 

sisted by hunting and fishing. One of the first Connecticut settlers, who 
came into this county, and was on his way to a settlement not far south of 
Montrose, and who staid over night at his cabin, told me that his cabin was 
then completely covered with the skins of wild beasts, among which he saw 
those of the panther, bear, wolf, deer, and wildcats. As other settlers came 
into this valley and commenced to settle further west, he, from the necessity 
arising from his location, was transformed from a simple hunter into a hotel 
keeper and ferryman (1793) ; for these early pioneers would stop at his house, 
as it was the only one near, and he assisted them to cross the river. As it 
could not be forded, except at very low water, he was compelled to build a 
ferry boat, as his house could not hold these blockaded travelers, the travel 
having now greatly increased by settlements further west, even as far as the 
lake country." 

John Baker bought a piece of wild land, went to work, and 
after he had nearly paid for it, found there was a mortgage on 
it for more than it was worth; he gave it up and bought 
another, and built a log cabin. He was prospered for a time, 
but one day as he and his wife were returning from work in 
the field they found their house and all its contents had been 
burned up; nothing was left except the clothes they had on. 
He sold his land and moved to Homer, New Jersey, in 1794. 
He had then three children. He came back to Great Bend to 
spend the following winter, and here, March 1795, his son, 
David J. Baker, was born. From him (now living at Dryden, 
N. Y., in his seventy-seventh year) we learn that his parents 
returned to Homer, in a canoe, as soon as the ice was out of 
the river, the same spring. His was the ninth family in the 
township (Homer) of ten miles square. 

The 'Bellevue (0.) Gazette' of a recent date contained a bio- 
graphical sketch of Mr. Baker, from which the following items 
are taken : — 

" His parents died when he was quite young. He never went to school a 
day. At the age of eighteen he served six months in the Revolutionary army. 

" At Great Bend he and his wife joined the Presbyterian Church, and re- 
mained consistent professors of religion all their lives. His wife taught him 
to read and write, and by his own efforts he acquired an education. He was 
a man of good natural ability, and fond of argument. Of the four sons and 
three daughters born to them here, three sons are still living ; two at the 
west, and David in Dryden, N. Y. He was the first deacon of the church in 
this town." 

Mr. D. J. Baker adds : " The Strongs all left Great Bend after my father 
did. My grandfather, Ozias Strong, had a family of six sons and six daugh- 
ters, namely: Major Joseph, Horatio, Francis, Zadock, Peltiah and Abner. 
His daughters with their husbands' names were, Beulah Treet, Roxy Benedict, 
Hannah Gates, Susanna Baker, Polly Jones, and Lovina Todd. Peltiah was 
drowned in the Susquehanna River while his father lived at Great Bend; the 
rest of this large family lived to a good old age, and all but one of them had 
large families. When Horatio left the Bend, he settled in the valley of the 
Scioto River in Ohio, and had a family nearly as large as his father. When 
my grandfather, Ozias Strong, left the Bend, he, together with three of his 
sons (Francis, Zadock, and Abner, who were then unmarried) settled at South 
Cortland, which was then called Homer, on 350 acres of land. When Major 
Joseph Strong left the Bend, he settled in Manlius, Onondaga County, New 



56 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

York, in 1812 ; lie moved to Huron County, Ohio, in 1814 ; Zadock followed 
him in 1815 ; Francis Strong and my father, John Baker, who married 
Susanna Strong, followed them in 1816, and in 1825 or 1826 Abner and Aunt 
Todd, she being then a widow, followed ; and all settled near each other in 
Ohio, on a ridge of land which is to this day called Strong's Ridge. Zadock 
Strong's marriage was the first marriage of the settlers of Homer, N. Y. 
He and his bride rode on horseback through the woods from Homer to 
Ludlowville, in Tompkins County, N. Y., a distance of thirty miles, to find 
the nearest person who was qualified to perform the marriage ceremony. 
Uncle David Jones, from Boston, who married Aunt Polly Strong, bought 
my grandfather's farm at South Cortland, and took care of the old people the 
last years of their lives. Capt. Benajah Strong moved to Lansingville, N.Y. 
" I left Great Bend with my parents when an infant, but I remember of their 
speaking of Stephen Murch so frequently that it is to me like a household 
word." 

The following sketch by J. Du Bois, Esq., is copied by per- 
mission from the ' Northern Pennsylvanian.' 

" Lathrop Island. — About one-third of a mile above the Great Bend Bridge, 
in the middle of the Susquehanna River, there was formerly a beautiful island, 
known as Lathrop Island, thus named from the fact that one Ralph Lathrop, 1 
a very early settler, cleared it up and cultivated it. When the whites first 
came into this valley, this was quite a large island, some acres in extent, the 
surface being very level, and as high above water as the shore opposite. 
The early settlers said that a part of this island had been cleared by the 
Indians. Upon being questioned about it, the Indian Doctor told me that 
this island was a great resort for Indian fishing and hunting parties ; in fact, 
the Indian picnic grounds. Here all the canoes for miles around, filled with 
the dusky sons of the forest, and their wives and little ones, came at stated 
periods to hunt, to fish, to feast, and to celebrate some of their games. One 
of their games was a boat race ; this always took place soon alter landing. 
Many strove for the honors ; for he who paddled his canoe around the island 
and came to the starting-point first was immediately invested with all the 
honor and power of a chief, to last during the festivities or stay upon the 
island. The victor's word for the time being was law, and the entire pro- 
ceedings of the party during the festivities were directed by him. Long after 
this valley was settled by the whites, this beautiful island was the favorite 
resort of the settlers and their children. Here they came in boats, with their 
wives and little ones, not forgetting cooking utensils, for our mothers and 
grandmothers were not content with ' cold victuals,' as the custom now is 
at picnics, but here, upon this almost enchanted spot, they cooked the tender 
venison and fresh fish provided by their husbands and sons, not forgetting 
to bring cakes and other good things. 

" This island, except a fine cluster of large trees left at its head for its pro- 
tection, and a fringe of beautiful shade trees around its border, was cleared. 
No such charming and inviting spot could be found in this vicinity, and it 
was the favorite for picnic parties for many years ; now nothing remains of 
it but unsightly gravel bars. This once beautiful place of resort was de- 
stroyed by mischievous boys. The timber standing at the head of the island, 
and which had for ages protected it from destruction, was the receptacle of 
vast quantities of driftwood. These boys went upon the island one summer's 
day, in a dry time, and set this driftwood on fire, which destroyed the trees ; 
and as soon as their roots decayed, this once beautiful place became an easy 
prey to the destructive ice floods of the Susquehanna ; and this once charm- 
ing spot, for pleasure parties and recreation, is lost to the citizens of this 
neighborhood for all time to come. 

1 Mr. Lathrop was a son-in-law of Priest Buck. He afterwards became in- 
sane. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 57 

"If any one wishes to satisfy himself as to this island being once the resort 
of the Indian fishermen, let him take a walk along the north shore of the 
river opposite, and he can, even now, find any number of the sinkers used by 
the red men. They fished with a hand line ; a round or oval stone from two 
to three inches in length, and from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in 
thickness was selected, a notch was cut in each edge, around this the end of 
the main line was fastened, short lines and hooks were attached to the main 
line, after the hooks were baited, the sinker was thrown far out into deep 
water, and the line, to use a sailor's expression, ' hauled taut,' and the least 
motion on the short lines was conveyed to the hand of the fisherman with 
almost electric speed." 

Incidents in the early history of the Susquehanna Valley are 
related by J. B. Buck, a son of Capt. Ichabod Back, whose 
father was the Rev. Daniel Buck referred to below. (Most of 
these were contributed to the 'Susquehanna Journal,' published 
at Susquehanna Depot.) 

" My great-grandfather, Eben Buck, was an Englishman ; his son Daniel, 
my grandfather, was a Presbyterian minister, ordained in Connecticut, his 
native State. In early life he was engaged in the old French war, in which 
he distinguished himself, and rose to rank and high position. He was a self- 
made man, and a doctor as well as minister. In 1786, he left the valley of 
the Mohawk, near Albany, where he had resided some years, and brought his 
family with teams to Otsego Lake, crossed it and came down the river in 
canoes, seventy miles, to near where Windsor village now stands. Here he 
remained nearly two years, and then moved down to Bed Rock. My father 
(the oldest son) and Uncle Benjamin were then married and had families. 
Father built his house just north of where the Erie Railroad passes through 
the tunnel, Uncle Benjamin just south of this place, and grandfather 
between them, on the line of the track over the tunnel. The old cellars are 
now to be seen. 

" When my father came to Red Rock, it was all wild. But on examination 
some marks were found that could not be accounted for. The high rocks on 
the river were painted red, and on the island was found the foundation of a 
house. This was found quite plain when the land was cleared up and plowed, 
but it had been so long ago that it was grown up with trees. There for five 
years he had to pound the grain in a mortar to make flour and bread. There 
I was born, when but few whites were there, but hundreds of Indians often 
passed up and down. There were no roads — nothing but a path in the woods. 

" After this time a mill was built at Tioga Point (now Athens), and we went 
with a canoe to mill— 62 miles. About this time father subscribed for a 
paper published by Mr. Miner at AVilkes-Barre. It was about ten by twelve 
inches to the page. We took it two years, and then it was doubled, and it 
was enlarged again from time to time. 

"My father was of steady habits, and possessed a strong, observing mind. 
After one year grandfather and Uncle Benjamin removed down the river a 
mile or two; the latter on the farm since known as Newman's, and the former 
on that one long owned and occupied by the Dimons, near the Bend bridge. 
Uncle Denton (Enoch) did not come in quite as soon as father; he located 
at Taylortown. 

" Father and uncle had begun to farm, and families would often get in a 
strife ; by agreement, when haying and harvesting were over, we would have 
a holiday. One day uncle took his oxen and cart and brought his family to 
father's, and all went on the hill for huckleberries. We filled all the pails, 
and then went to killing rattlesnakes. That afternoon we killed 411. It will 
be understood that in August the females go back to their dens to have their 
young. We killed 33 old ones, and the rest of the 411 were young ones. 



58 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" Here was found great abundance of wild animals of different kinds, and 
birds also. When out late at evening we were often followed by panthers, 
but never molested. At one time the wolves drove a deer upon the ice on 
the Susquehanna, not far from our house, and caught it. After devouring it, 
they had, a frolic. We had a horn made of a sea-shell. We ran out with 
the horn, and, after watching them at their play, sounded the horn. They 
stopped at once ; then, catching the echo rather than the first sound, they 
ran directly towards us till about half way, when they stopped a moment, 
discovered their mistake, and then ran up the river for a mile for dear life. 
There were fifteen of them. 

" I well remember the first wagon brought here. It was drawn by four oxen. 
Father bought the fore wheels, and uncle the hind ones. The tires were in 
six pieces for each wheel — spiked on. Brought from Boston by a Mr. Dorset." 

" Fire was obtained either by flashing powder, or with the flint and steel. 
Friction matches were not invented for fifty years afterward. It was always 
expected that fire would be kept on every hearth. If by neglect the fire 
went out, it was common for families to send half a mile to a neighbor's for 
fire. 

" The first house, and the one in which I was born, was built in an exceed- 
ingly primitive style. One huge log nearly made one side of the house, of 
which material the dwelling was built, for the mill-going saw ' these valleys 
and rocks had never heard.' The floor was made of strips, split, or halves 
of logs, flattened ; the roof was covered with ' shakes,' four feet long ; the 
beams overhead extended beyond the body of the house some five or six feet, 
making a stoop or piazza, from the roof of which, in autumn, used to hang 
the seed-corn for the ensuing year. The house was situated near a fine 
spring of water. Its furniture was not of the present-day style; the bed- 
steads, chairs, tables, and cooking utensils belonged to another age. We 
had no stoves, no carpets; we needed none. We had an immense fireplace, 
and the forest all around us. The day found us busy; the night gathered us 
around the broad stone hearth, glowing with a well-piled fire, where we re- 
counted the hopes, adventures, and news of the day, in much the same man- 
ner as is done to-day, in well-regulated families. 

" For years we had no other evening light than that from the blazing hearth- 
fire, pine-knots, or a candle. The only way we had for lighting a candle was 
by means of a sliver from the wood-pile, or by taking a live coai from the fire 
and blowing it with the breath until it glowed, and then placing the wick of 
the candle against it. This was not always immediately successful, and fre- 
quently caused the young housekeeper to blow until her cheeks were as red 
as roses. Especially was this frequently the case of Sunday evenings, when 
young gents were present. It was many years after the country was settled 
before whale-oil lamps were introduced, and until then our only resource for 
light was the fire, blazing, or the consumption of fat in some manner. 

" Our food was mainly meat, from the forest ; bread, vegetables, short-cakes, 
johnny-cakes, and buckwheat pancakes. We used to eat our venison cooked 
in various ways. A venison steak is epicurean, and reckoned among the 
best of backwoods dishes. Our bread was baked in a flat, shallow cast-iron 
kettle, set upon coals, with coals heaped upon the cover. Our biscuits were 
baked in a tin oven, shaped like a letter V, so arranged as to heat both the 
top and bottom of the biscuits. Our short-cakes were baked in a long- 
handled frying-pan, heated at the bottom with coals, and by the glowing fire 
at the top — and good cakes it makes, too — better than any of the new-fangled 
ovens of the present day. If the fireplace was well supplied with necessa- 
ries, it had an iron crane, from which cooking utensils could be suspended at 
a greater or less height above the fire. The crane wanting, its place was 
supplied by some other device for suspending the pots — generally trammels 
— an exceedingly clumsy and inconvenient arrangement, by which vessels 



HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 59 

used in cooking must be suspended from a pole, crossing the chimney high 
enough above the fire not to burn. * 

" Did the good housewife desire to get breakfast, she first filled the tea-kettle 
and hung it over the fire, or set it on fresh coals, drawn from the wood fire, 
on the hearth to boil; she then put her meat to frying in a spider, having 
legs about three inches long, by setting it on fresh coals; her potatoes, if 
boiled, were put in a pot and hung over the fire ; if she desired pancakes, 
they were baked on a round griddle, suspended over the fire — when the 
griddle was hot enough, she swung out the crane and put on the batter ; one 
side baked, the crane was swung out, the cakes turned, and again swung in ; 
when done, again swung out, cakes removed, and another batch spread on." 

" In those days, stores were few and distant. Powder and lead were among 
our most necessary articles, and these cost long journeys. For some years 
no store was nearer than Bainbridge, N. Y., then Windsor, and finally Great 
Bend— supplied by teams from Catskill. A man named Whittemore first 
began trading at Windsor; Bowes at the Bend. He built, about sixty-five 
years ago, the square house near the Presbyterian Church." 

Shad were so numerous in early times, that they were sold 
for one cent each. 

"A Fish Story. — After planting, one year, the men thought they would 
have a play day. They agreed upon a fishing party, and were to drive the 
river. We first began at the island, by building a willow and brush fence, or 
net across the north side of the river, so as to stop the fish. The other side 
we had three horses mounted by boys, who rode back and forth, scaring the 
fish into our pen or net, between the island and opposite shore. A large 
party then proceeded up the river some three miles, and drove the fish down 
— floating before them a rude sort of brush net, in the water, so that it was 
really easier for the fish to run down stream than pass it. They came 
down the stream driving, splashing, sw'imming, and wading, and having a gay 
time, until they reached our pen or brush net ; when we piled in brush and 
made a fence which it was difficult for the fish to pass. We then began 
throwing out the fish, and the great creatures would splash against our legs, 
and dash about in vain efforts to escape. We captured by this frolic eigh- 
teen hundred shad. Each boy and girl had five — each woman thirty, and 
the balance were divided equally among the men — of course they secured 
the lion's share. The whole ended with a real feast and frolic, with shad for 
meat instead of quails. The evening was joyous, and the entertainment 
bouutiful, and the whole passed off with a zest and appetite which cannot 
be surpassed by our present efforts." 

Another reminiscence of Mr. Buck's runs thus : — 

"Wolves were exceedingly troublesome to the early settlers. They would 
enter the fold at night and kill sheep and lambs, and, sucking the blood and 
eating a portion of the flesh, would leave the flock ruined for the farmer's 
coming. In those days each family made its own cloth for all the various 
purposes. The clothing of the father, the mother, the sons, and the daughters, 
was the handiwork of the busy mother. The flesh was also a reliance for 
food ; hence the loss of the sheep was a dire calamity for a farmer. The 
sheep had for many years to be yarded close by the house. The ducks, 
geese, and chickens also had to be protected at night." 

Three or four brothers of Eev. Daniel Buck figured in the 
early history of Wyoming. Elijah (and possibly Asahel) was 
one of the first forty settlers of Kingston ; William is mentioned 
in the old records of Westmoreland as a fence-viewer and grand 
juror, in 1774, and Capt. Aholiab Buck was one of nine cap- 



60 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

tains slain the fatal afternoon of July 3, 1778. William, a son 
of Asahel Buck, was massacred the same day. An older 
brother of the four, Eben, had two sons, Elijah and William, the 
former of whom settled near Athens, Pa., as early probably as 
1788. 

" Priest" Buck, as the minister was generally styled, had 
seventeen children, ten of whom were those of his second wife; 
sixteen lived to have families. In addition to the sons already 
mentioned, who were of his first wife, there were Daniel, Israel, 
Silas, and Hiram. The majority of the family settled and died 
in the State of New York. Silas died in 1832, at Great Bend, 
where his widow still resides. Two of his sisters, Polly and 
Eachel, also died here. Enoch Denton died in Ohio ; Israel, 
in Wyalusing, where some of his descendants reside. He had 
fifteen children. 

Eev. Daniel Buck died at Great Bend, April 13, 1814. He 
had buried his first wife in Connecticut; his second wife died 
at Great Bend, September 6, 1828, and rests beside her husband 
in the cemetery near the Episcopal church. 

Capt. Ichabod Buck was born in New Canaan, Connecticut. 
He died in Franklin, Susquehanna County, March 19, 1819. A 
recent writer says of him: "He was a Christian, and to him 
perhaps more than to any other man were the early settlers of 
Great Bend indebted for religious teaching, influence, and 
example." He had five sons: William died at Great Bend; 
John B., the author of several sketches given in these annals, is 
still living (February, 1872) at Susquehanna Depot; Benjamin 
died young; Elijah, living in Illinois, and Benjamin, in Michi- 
gan. His daughter Lucy, now dead, was born at Eed Eock, 
April, 1791; and Deborah (Mrs. Lyman Smith, of Binghamton), 
March, 1793. The latter is the only survivor of the six 
daughters. Mrs. I. Buck died at Great Bend. 

William Buck married a daughter of Oliver Trowbridge 
1st; she was eight years old when her father came to Great 
Bend in 1796, and is still living in the same town. 

Elijah and William, sons of Ichabod Buck, form the third set 
of brothers of these names in the Buck family : the first being 
the brothers of Eev. D. Buck, the next his nephews, and the 
third his grandchildren. 

David Buck, who lived in 1807 on the north side of the Sus- 
quehanna Eiver opposite Wright Chamberlin's, was not a near 
relation of this famly. 

Thomas Bates lived about a mile below the bridge on the 
south side of the river. He died here before 1820, much 
esteemed. 

We insert here brief sketches of three of the early settlers of 
this section. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 61 

Simeon Wylie served his country through the war of the Revolution, hav- 
ing entered the service in the spring of 1776, at the age of eighteen years. 
He was early detached from the ranks as waiter to General Arnold, and 
served as such until the time of Arnold's defection, and was the principal 
witness to prove the identity of Major Andre, his visits to Arnold at his 
quarters at the Robinson house, and the manner of Arnold's escape. From 
that time, he served as a sergeant to the close of the war. He was in the 
battle of Long Island, and White Plains, in 1776, in the northern campaign, 
at the battle of Bennington, and at the capture of General Burgoyne in 1777. 
He was also in a preceding battle in which Arnold was wounded, and was in 
the battle of Monmouth in 1778. 

In the confusion of the retreat from Long Island, on the evening after the 
battle, Sergeant Wylie was one of a party of seventeen (including a lieutenant), 
left in a piece of woods near the enemy. Not knowing in the dark what course 
to take, they agreed to wait until daylight, and then attempt to cross the East 
River or Sound. As soon as it was light they sent two of the party to search 
for a boat and give a signal to the detachment remaining in the woods. Upon 
hearing the signal the latter hurried to the shore, where they found a boat 
which had been drawn upon the beach, and, while pushing it with some diffi- 
culty into the water, they saw a party of " red coats" passing. They however 
succeeded in launching the boat and took to the oars. The enemy being near 
discovered them, ordered them to "halt" and surrender, or they would fire 
upon them. Disregarding the threat they pushed on, and the enemy fired 
and continued to fire until the boat reached the New York shore, and so well 
was their aim taken that every man except the lieutenant and Sergeant 
Wylie was either killed or wounded. The killed were buried with the honors 
of war, and the wounded taken to the hospital in New York. Some forty 
years after, a crippled pensioner traveling through this part of the country 
stopped for the night with Mr. Wylie. In the course of the evening he spoke 
of the Revolution and the cause of his lameness. He proved to be one of the 
seventeen. He remaiued with Mr. Wylie through the winter and taught 
school. Sergeant Wylie was a brave man and a good soldier. This bloody 
transaction, with many other revolutionary reminiscences, he was accustomed 
to narrate with thrilling effect. 

In the spring of 1835, he buried his wife (a daughter of Rev. D. Buck), with 
whom he had lived forty-nine years. She had resided forty-three years on the 
farm where she died, and had been a member of the Presbyterian Church 
eighteen years. He died suddenly while on a journey into the State of New 
York to visit one of his sons, September 14, 1836, aged seventy-eight years. 

Jonathan Dimon was a native of Fairfield County, Conn. In his minority 
he served several years as a soldier in the army of the Revolution. A few 
years after the war he moved with his family to Willingborough, in the spring 
of 1791. He purchased a farm of Ozias Strong, and followed farming for the 
remainder of his days. His success was such, he was able, to a considerable 
extent, to supply provisions to the Wyoming settlers. 

He was the third postmaster at Great Bend, for several years from 1813. 
He was a man possessing intelligence, energy, integrity, and influence, and who 
exercised hospitality almost to a fault. He was an opponent to immorality, 
intemperance, and Sabbath desecration; a supporter of educational and reli- 
gious institutions. He died suddenly June 8, 1821, aged sixty years, greatly 
lamented, and was followed to the grave by a larger number of persons than 
had ever before been seen at the Bend on such an occasion. His widow, Mrs. 
Abigail D., and the mother of his ten children, was a member of the Baptist 
Church many years. Her children were all living at the time of her death in 
November, 1834. 

Charles Dimon, son of Jonathan, was six years old when his father settled 
at Willingborough. He was educated at the common schools, which were 
then taught by competent teachers. At a suitable age he commenced work- 



62 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ing on the farm with his father, and pursued the same occupation through 
life. 

January, 1810, on the resignation of Dr. E. Parker, he was appointed the 
second postmaster at Great Bend, which office he held until March 2, 1813, 
when he was appointed justice of the peace, by the Governor of Pennsjdva- 
nia. April 23, 1823, he voluntarily resigned his commission for the purpose 
of pursuing his favorite occupation of agriculture. 

About nine years afterwards the people, without his knowledge, sent a 
petition to the governor to have him reappointed, which was done ; his 
second commission being dated December 3, 1832, and which he reluctantly 
accepted. He was twice elected under the amended constitution, and com- 
missioned, viz., March 17, 1840, and March 18, 1845. His fourth commission 
terminated March, 1850, when he absolutely refused another election. He 
discharged the duties of a magistrate with ability and with general satisfac- 
tion, having acquired a good knowledge of the laws relating to his office. 
He had the reputation of being as reliable a justice as any in the county, and 
his decisions were respected. 

He was a man of strict morality, inflexible in his opposition to vice in every 
form, both by precept and example — a true son of his father — always aiming 
at right, and opposing wrong and deception. He had a controlling influence 
in the community, and bore the reputation of an honest, Christian man, to 
tomb. He was friendly and courteous; always extending the hand of friend- 
ship to all deserving persons ; hospitable, and ready to assist the unfortunate, 
using his influence for religion which he professed to have experienced, and 
always endeavored to sustain the best interests of the country in her civil, 
literary, religious, and political institutions. He was never married. To 
relatives, friends, and society the loss of such a man was a calamity. He died 
at the Bend, August, 22, 1864, aged seventy-nine years. 

Dr. Fobes, the first regular physician of the place, was here in 
1791. Eobert Corbett, though then where New Milford village 
is, was a taxable of Willingborough. A Mr. Worden, early in 
the nineties, was near the present line of Oakland. 

" As early as 1791, the settlers of Mt. Pleasant began opening 
a road to Great Bend. It left the north and south road nearly 
opposite Mr. Stanton's house (in Mt.P.), and proceeded westward, 
varying from half a mile to a mile south of the Great Bend and 
Coahecton turnpike, which has taken its place." (Rev. S. 
Whaley.) 

Before November, 1792, the settlement must have largely 
increased, as a road which had been laid out on petition of Lewis 
Maffet and others — William Forsyth among the viewers — was 
opposed by a remonstrance sent to the court and signed by 
" Orasha" Strong and fifteen others. The first report made the 
road " begin at a stake about three rods above a place called the 
Three Apple Trees, and run northwesterly to the State line." 
The court granted a review of the road by different men, 
among whom Asaph Corbett, then in New Milford, and Asahel 
Gregory, in what is now Herrick, must have been disinterested 
parties. They made the road begin opposite James Parmeter's, 
at a stake in the north bank of the river. 

Messrs. Bennett, Parmeter, Strong, Leonard, Asa Adams, and 
Isaac Hale (the last in what is now Oakland), viewed and laid 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 63 

out two other roads that season ; the first, " beginning at a 
hemlock stump, opposite Seth Putnam's saw-mill, northerly 
(W. E.W.) to the south bank of the Susquehanna River, then 
N. E. to the north bank of said river, then up said river inter- 
secting the road first laid out;" the other appears to have 
connected these with the house of Benjamin Buck, one mile 
above Ozias Strong's. 

In 1793, the court appointed Ichabod Buck, constable ; 
Horatio Strong and Jonathan Bennet, supervisors ; and Elisha 
Leonard and Ichabod Buck, overseers of the poor. From this 
time the town rapidly increased in prosperity and influence. 

November, 1795, Jonathan Newman, formerly of Pittston 
(was there in 1789), bought of Minna Du Bois land lying north 
of the river, above the ferry. Nathaniel Holdridge, the first 
settler of Herrick, must have been here then, as he was con- 
stable the following }^ear. 

In 1796, Oliver Trowbridge, called Major Trowbridge, came 
in. The same year Horatio Strong received a license to keep 
a tavern. He had only a log-house. This, it appears, was 
purchased by Oliver Trowbridge, who built, in 1797, a framed 
part to the house, an upper room of which was used by a 
Masonic Lodge ; the walls of it were papered — the first instance 
of a papered room in the county. He was licensed in 1801. He 
had four sons — Noble, Lyman, Augustus, and Harry (the latter 
two died at the West) — and four daughters, of whom Mrs. Wm. 
Buck is the only one now living at Great Bend. 

Noble Trowbridge (J. P.) in 1810 built the wing of the 
present large house occupied by his son Oliver, about one and 
a quarter miles from the State line. The old bar-room, kitchen, 
and dining-room of this once noted tavern are well preserved ; 
also, the old sign of the Indian and his arrows, though it no 
longer invites the traveller to rest. Here were seen the old 
" tester 1 ' bedsteads, with blue and white linen hangings, such 
as some of us now cherish as the handiwork of our grand- 
mothers. 

From the porch, views of river, hills, and meadows of great 
beauty are obtained, and pleasure-seekers much frequent this 
locality. Trowbridge's Creek reaches the river just below. 

Noble T. had six daughters and three sons — Oliver, Grant, 
and Henry (dead). 

Lyman Trowbridge settled in the south part of the township 
near Salt Lick Creek. He had four daughters, and four sons — 
Amasa, Augustus (dead), Charles, and Lafayette. 

Daniel and Seelye Trowbridge, who lived on the south or 
west side of the river, were sons of David, a brother of 0. 
Trowbridge, 1st. 

Henry Lord, originally from Maine, came from Dutchess 



64 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

County, N. Y., in 1797, and settled about half a mile south of 
Great Bend. The place was afterwards occupied by Asahel 
Avery and Jonas Brush. He had eleven children, only two of 
whom — Mrs. Dr. Charles Fraser and Mrs. Charles Avery, of 
Montrose — remained in the county, when their father removed 
to Yates County, N. Y., after residing here about twelve years. 

The same year, Jonathan Newman was constable, and Oliver 
Trowbridge and Samuel Hayden, supervisors. The year fol- 
lowing, Sylvanus Hatch was constable, Samuel Blair and Henry 
Lord, poor-masters; Samuel Blair, assessor. (All these offices, 
it will be remembered, included then a supervision of all the 
territory now included in Great Bend, Oakland, Harmony, and 
New Milford, and Jackson, Thompson, and part of Ararat; but 
in the last three there was then no settler.) 

Asa Eddy, afterwards first justice of the peace of the town- 
ship, offered for sale, in 1798, " six valuable farms at and near 
Great Bend — indisputable titles given." 

Facilities for travel increased. The road from Mt. Pleasant, 
projected in 1791, appears not to have been satisfactorily lo- 
cated ; for, January, 1798, Messrs. Parmeter and Hatch, Dudley 
Holdridge (son of Nathaniel), David Summers, Joseph Potter, 
and Asahel Gregory, were appointed to view and lay out the 
road, which, after reaching the house of Daniel Leach, ran 
nearly north to the Salt Lick, then to E. Corbett's, then north 
six miles to the ferry at Great Bend. The report of the viewers 
was not presented and approved until the next year. 

In November, 1798, J. Dimon petitioned for a road " begin- 
ning two miles from the ferry, and running up the river to a 
place called Harmony, and thence to the State line ;" also, for 
" a road leading from the aforesaid road across to the line above 
mentioned, toward a place called Ouaquaga, in the State of 
New York." John Hilborn, IchabodBuck, S. Blair, J. Dimon, 
Isaac Hale, and J. Newman, were appointed to lay out these 
roads. 

During this year, a " post" was engaged to ride from Wilkes- 
Barre to Great Bend once a fortnight, for the delivery of papers. 
A road had been laid out to " the road on the waters of the 
Tunkhannock," in January previous. It will be remembered 
that, at this time, Harmony and Great Bend as townships had 
no existence. 

In 1799, Sylvanus Hatch was a licensed " taverner at Hatch's 
ferry," as the location was then frequently called. A part of 
the old log building is still standing across the road from where 
the three apple trees stood, on the farm of Ozias Strong. Mr. 
H. did not own the log tavern, but he afterwards purchased 
one of the fan-shaped farms (see diagram), and kept a promi- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



65 



nent hotel on it, below the present Methodist church. This 
building has recently been divided. 

David Brownson was constable in 1799 ; Isaac Hoyt one of 
the supervisors, and Thomas Bates, freeholder. 

Benjamin Gould was an early settler, on a part of N. Trow- 
bridge's form. Jonathan Dimon was one of six settlers whose 
farms converged at a point near the nineteenth mile-stone. 
Each farm had a river front, and all extended about two miles 
on the river, somewhat as shown by the diagram. 

Fig. 10. The "Fan" at Great Bend. 




U 



The original Strong farm, on which Great Bend borough is 
located, may have extended over Nos. 1, 2, and 3 ; but No. 1,. 
once occupied by Eev. D. Buck, became the farm of Jonathan 
and Charles Dimon ; No. 2, once that of Horatio Strong, be- 
longed successively to Josiah Stewart, William Thomson, 
Lowry Green, and W. S. Wolcott ; No. 3, once that of Sylva- 
nus Hatch, since owned by Truman Baldwin; No. 4, the 
Trowbridge farm, after O. Trowbridge left the tavern-stand of 
H. Strong ; No. 5, the present Gillespie farm ; No. 6, now 
owned by A. and D. Thomas, was once Samuel Blair's. 

The first three, of course, have been much divided; but a 
daughter of Jonathan Dimon is still a resident of part of No. 1. 

Sections of those owned by Hatch and Trowbridge once 
comprised the farm of Mrs. Andrew Johnston, the " first bride 
of the valley." She was the daughter of Garret Snedaker, who 
settled in Broome County, in 1794, and married Mr. Johnston, 
in September, 1796. He died in 1815, leaving her with six sons 
and one daughter. Mrs. J. related to the compiler, in 1869, her 



66 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

surprise on coming here from New Jersey, when a girl, at the 
dress of people at meetings on the Sabbath. " One young 
woman wore a waistcoat (without sleeves) and a petticoat ; the 
men wore leather coats and pantaloons." She lived in Great 
Bend, with her son, John B. Johnston, until her death, in 
V January, 1870, in her ninety-third year. 

In response to inquiries respecting Minna Du Bois, his grand- 
son, J. B. D., says: — 

" As near as I can learn, my ancestors of the name Du Bois left France 
at the time of the persecution of the Huguenots. They first fled to Germany, 
and afterwards came with the Germans to this country, and settled at or near 
Esopus, on the Hudson River. 

" My great-grandfather, Abraham Du Bois, received his portion on the 
death of his father, and moved to New Jersey. He had three sons : Abra- 
ham, Nicholas, and Minna. My grandfather, Minna Du Bois, was the 
youngest of that family. He was a wild youth, ran away, shipped and went 
to France. This was just before the Revolution. In the war that was then 
going on between France and England, my grandfather Du Bois joined the 
French navy. The vessel to which he belonged was captured by the Eng- 
lish, and he and the other prisoners were taken to England and kept as 
prisoners in the mountains of Wales, until the war was over. He then came 
home. His brother Abraham, a wealthy jeweller in Philadelphia, and a 
large land-owner, made him an agent and sent him to Great Bend, to take 
care of his landed estate in this section. Several tracts here bore the 
warrantee name of his son, Nicholas Du Bois. 

" Minna Du Bois was twice married ; Abraham was the son of his first wife ; 
and Jane (Mrs. Lusk), an only daughter of his last wife. The house in which 
the latter was born now forms a part of the Lusk House, 1 at the south end 
of the bridge, where Minna Du Bois kept a public house for years, and here 
Benajah Strong had one before him; and Abraham Du Bois, his son, after 
him (1812). Mr. Du Bois died March 14,1824, aged seventy years. His 
wife afterwards resided with her daughter in Montrose, where she died 
December 30, 1848, aged eighty years. 

"Abraham Du Bois, Esq., married, in 1811, a daughter of Joseph Bowes 
(Julia), who was educated at the Moravian school in Bethlehem, Pa. Their 
sons were : Joseph (contributor to these ' Annals'), Nicholas, James C, and 
William, who died in Panama. Their daughters : Mrs. Rev. J. B. McCreary, 
dead, Mrs. Dr. Brooks, of Binghamton, Mrs. F. P. Catlin, of Wisconsin, 
Mrs. Hon. S. B. Chase, and Mrs. Curtis, of Great Bend. 

"Abraham D. died August 1, 1867, aged eighty-one years ; and his wife 
died May 15, 1855, aged sixty-one." 

" A Talk with an Indian Doctor. By J. Du Bois.— Many years ago when 
I was a boy, a playmate of mine informed me that an Indian family had ar- 
rived at Great Bend, and had taken lodgings at the Log Tavern. Up to this 
time I had never seen an Indian, and my curiosity was greatly excited. I 
soon obtained leave of my parents to go and see the natives. I filled my 
pockets with knick-knacks for the young Indians, hoping thereby to gain the 
good-will of the older ones. 

" In company with another boy (for I was afraid to go alone) we proceeded 
to that then far-famed hotel known as the Log Tavern, and there we found 

1 This place is one of the ancient landmarks. After Mr. Du Bois's death, 
Benjamin Taylor, Langley, Ebenezer Brown, Sen., Benjamin Miller, and 

Caldwell, were' its proprietors. Mr. Chaffee was first proprietor of the Lusk 

House. James Parmeter's well is still to be seen, in front of the hotel, across 
the river-road. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 67 

an old Indian with a young squaw for a wife, and three children. The old 
Indian claimed to be a doctor. True, he did not bring with him innumerable 
'manikins just imported from Paris,' neither did he come preceded by flam- 
ing posters, announcing free lectures, nor pay lectures. The Indian "doctor 
came unheralded, driving his own horse and wagon containing his family. 
He was an intelligent-looking man, over six feet in height, weight over two 
hundred pounds. His hair, notwithstanding his age, was shining black, 
neatly braided, and hung down to the middle of his back in the form of a 
cue. His costume, in style, was not purely Indian, but he retained the leg- 
gings and moccasins of the red man. The only insignia of his profession, 
which he carried, was the ' medicine bag,' which was an otter skin, with the 
fur on. The doctor had already announced his intention of remaining with 
us two or three months, had tendered the landlord the coin for his board in 
advance, saying that his principal object in coming here was once more to 
visit the scenes of his early youth. Although he plainly announced .the ob- 
ject of his visit, it was not long before many speculations and guesses were 
made by the curious among our citizens as to the real object of this Indian 
visit. Some of those observing ones had noticed that the ' medicine bag' was 
the receptacle of many articles not to be found in the materia medica of the 
white or red men, and from this fact, came to the conclusion that the title of 
doctor was merely assumed to hide his real object, which some said was to 
dig up and remove ' hidden treasures.' Others said, he had come to re-mark 
the localities of covered salt springs, or valuable mineral deposits. On being 
questioned as to his knowledge of these things, the doctor was very reticent ; 
this only increased the curiosity of these speculators, and they even went so 
far as to offer to pay the Indian well if he would disclose to them this hidden 
wealth, which they plainly told him they were sure he could do if he would. 
At last the doctor yielded to the pressure, so far as to tell them that if they 
would count him out seven hundred dollars in coin, he would disclose to them 
something worth — to use the Indian's own language — much money. Now 
these speculators were more anxious than ever to know what it was, whether 
hidden treasures, salt springs, or mineral deposits, but to these questions the 
Indian was silent. Then they told him he had set his figures too high, and 
offered him one hundred, two hundred, and finally four hundred dollars ; but 
all of these offers did not move the Indian. The doctor's movements were 
closely watched while he was here, some of these speculators thinking that 
they might gain by stealth what they failed to obtain by negotiation ; but the 
Indian was too much for them in this. Almost daily he took his rifle and 
went out upon our hills, but never twice in the same direction, and although 
the woods at that time literally swarmed with game, the doctor seldom came 
home laden with the fruits of the chase. The doctor had his patients, too, 
and it is but just to say, that those that did apply to him were well satisfied 
that the Indian doctor was no humbug. 

" The writer, anxious to learn something about the Indians that once lived 
in this valley, concluded to question the doctor. I again visited the Log 
Tavern. I found the doctor reclining on the grassy slope of the bank of the 
Susquehanna, near the Indian Apple Trees. Armed with a pipe and tobacco, 
I approached him and presented them, retreated to a respectable distance 
and sat down, and watched him as he drew forth the steel, the flint, and 
striking fire, proceeded to test the quality of the Indian weed. Boy like, I 
at once commenced to question him, and as he remained silent, I piled ques- 
tion upon question, without even waiting for an answer, not knowing at that 
time that an Indian never answered a question immediately, but first smokes, 
then thinks, and then answers. After almost exhausting my list of inquiries, 
I remained silent. The Indian, after puffing away at the pipe for some time, 
said, ' Boy want to know much, Indian tell him some. When a boy, I lived 
here, many Indians lived along this valley of the Susquehanna, we belonged 
to the Confederate Five Nations, afterwards called the Six Nations.' He then 



68 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

proceeded to state in his own language that this valley was for a long time 
the frontier of the Confederacy. At that time the Delaware Indians claimed 
all the lands up to the Susquehanna River, at the same time the Confederacy 
claimed to the Delaware River, the land lying between these two rivers was 
disputed ground, and many were the conflicts between the hunters on this 
disputed territory. After awhile, the Six Nations conquered the Delawares, 
and extended their authority as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. During 
the war of the Revolution, the Indians quietly withdrew from this valley, and 
all of them, except the Oneidas. joined the British and were nearly all ex- 
terminated in the battles which followed. Before the Revolution the Indians 
raised great crops of corn along these river flats. 

"'All over yonder,' said he, pointing to the hills on the soath side of the 
river, 'elk, elk, deer, too, plenty, very plenty, fish in this river very plenty, 
Indian lived well.' I asked the doctor where the Indians buried their dead ; 
he pointed toward Dimon's flats, saying, 'there we bury our dead.' I then 
told the doctor, that when the workmen were excavating the ground for 
northern abutment of the first Great Bend Bridge, they discovered the skele- 
ton of what they supposed to be a large Indian (as it was found in the sit- 
ting: posture), I asked him how this Indian came to be buried there. After 
puffing away at the pipe as if in deep thought, he replied, 'The Delaware 
Indian, he die in his canoe, we bury him there.' I asked him by what 
death did he die, but received no answer. Not being willing to give it up so, 
I told the doctor that this Delaware Indian, as he called him, had a large 
hole in his skull, to which he replied, ' Delaware bad Indian.' Pursuing my 
inquiry in another direction, I asked him if a hostile Indian was detected as 
a spy, if by their laws it was death; he answered yes. And upon inquiring 
he said that they never bury those belonging to another tribe with their 
own dead. He further said that the Three Apple Trees was the rallying 
point and headquarters for all the Indians in the neighborhood. Here coun- 
cils were held, marriages celebrated, feasts observed, war-dances performed, 
and the fate of prisoners decided. 

" At another visit the doctor said that he had greatly enjoyed his visit here 
in looking upon the hills and valleys where his youthful days were spent, 
and would soon return to his people in Canada, who were anxiously awaiting 
his return. When the doctor had ended his visit, many of his friends here 
met at the Long Tavern to bid him good-bye. The Indian doctor during his 
stay here made many friends, performed some remarkable cures, excited a 
good deal of curiosity, imparted much information about the former inhabit- 
ants of this valley, and with his family departed for his home in the North- 
west, with the best wishes of his new-made acquaintances." 

" An Indian Claim. — Jonathan Dimon was one of the early white settlers 
of this valley. He settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Carl. 
When Jonathan Dimon left the valley of the Hudson River, and removed to 
this, then called wilderness, West, his son, Charles Dimon, had not com- 
pleted his education, and did not come on to his father here, until some years 
later. A few days after his arrival, his father told him to go upon the flats 
and plow up an old ' Indian burying ground.' (This burying ground was 
located about the centre of the lately talked-of Fair Ground, and proposed 
Race Track, and on each side of what now remains of an old hedge.) More 
than thirty years ago, the writer had this narrative from our late and much 
esteemed fellow-townsman, Charles Dimon. He said that he felt many mis- 
givings about thus disturbing the burial place of the dead, and asked his 
lather what he should do with those curious stones that marked the last rest- 
ing-place of the Indians. His father told him that when he plowed up near 
enough to these stones to loosen them, to carefully take them up and pile 
them up by the fence. He said that with a heavy heart he proceeded to do 
as his father bade him, but would much rather have plowed elsewhere. 
After working awhile, his oxen needed rest ; at this time he was very near 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 69 

the bank of the river, and was sitting on his plowbeam with his back towards 
the river. He said that, in spite of himself, his thoughts would run on about 
the red men who once inhabited this valley. True, his father had told him 
that no Indians had been here for a long time, they had long since removed 
to other ' hunting grounds,' or had fallen in battle before the superior arms 
of the white man. He thought, and could not help thinking, what would be 
his fate if the Indians should happen to come along and find him plowing up 
the graves, and removing the stones that they had set up to mark the last 
resting-places of their ' fathers ?' While these thoughts were troubling him, 
he heard a low guttural, yet musical sound, or combination of sounds, which 
came from the river behind him. It was different from anything that he 
had ever heard. He turned his face toward the river, a screen of willows 
partly hid from his view objects on the river nearest to him, and as these 
strange sounds came nearer, he peered through the bushes and — said he to the 
writer — ' imagine, if you can, my feelings and surprise, when I tell you that I 
saw close to me a large canoe full of Indians, and this had barely passed the 
opening before another canoe full of Indians came in sight. I immediately 
unhitched the oxen and hurried out of that field, and away to the house. 
Being somewhat excited at what I had seen, I said to father, that I thought 
it very unsafe to plow in the Indian burying field while the Indians were 
about. Father told me to explain ; I did, by telling him what I had seen. 
He told me to go down to the ferry, and see if the Indians landed. I went 
to the ferry, which then occupied the present site of the Great Bend Bridge 
across the Susquehanna River. And there, at the Log Tavern, which then 
stood on the site of the two-story house opposite to and near the toll house, 
I found the Indians, about twenty in number.' A crowd of the curious soon 
collected, and an ' inquisitive ' Yankee soon learned from the Indian inter- 
preter, that they had come to claim all that strip of land lying north of the 
Susquehanna River, and south of the forty-second parallel of latitude, de- 
claring that they had never sold it, and that they wanted to meet the settlers 
and have a talk. This declaration of the interpreter caused the crowd to 
disperse in every direction to notify the settlers, and when these messengers 
told the settlers that a large party of Indians were at the Log Tavern, and 
claimed their lands, they too left their plows and wended their way to the 
Log Tavern, and as they came together on the way thither, they saluted each 
other after this manner, 'what now, what next?' here we have been trem- 
bling about our titles, Pennsylvania claims us, Connecticut claims us, and 
now, after all, here come the aborigines themselves, to claim our lands, and, 
if we should refuse, perhaps will take our scalps. 

" By evening a number of settlers had collected, and, as they had no speaker 
among them, they chose one for the occasion; he was a kind of backwoods 
lawyer of those days (his name, as well as many other interesting incidents 
of this meeting, have, I am sorry to say, gone from the memory of the writer). 
Among those early settlers that were named as having attended this meet- 
ing, and were interested therein, I can only remember the following : Captain 
Ichabod Buck, Captain Jonathan Newman, Jonathan Dimon, Sylvanus 
Hatch, Josiah Stewart, David Buck, Noble Trowbridge, and James New- 
man. After all were seated in the old Log Tavern, the speaker for the set- 
tlers arose, and told the Indian interpreter that all were now ready to hear 
the talk of their chief. 

"Many eyes were now turned toward the central figure of a group of noble 
looking Indians. But at this time some of the whites present were whisper- 
ing to each other, and at the same time, wondering why the chief rose not. 
After a while the interpreter arose, and gave these inattentive whispering 
whites, a just and well-merited rebuke. 'Friends,' said he, ' I perceive that you 
do not understand the character of the red men, when assembled in council. 
No Indian will rise to speak, until there is perfect silence and attention, and 
there is nothing he more dislikes than a whispering, inattentive audience.' 



70 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

After this rebuke from the interpreter, silence reigned. The chief, a man of 
great stature and noble bearing, soon arose, and spoke in the Indian dialect, 
which was well interpreted, sentence by sentence, in good English, and was, 
as near as the writer can remember, as follows : ' Friends and brothers, once 
our fathers had their wigwams on these beautiful banks of the Susquehanna ; 
once they chased the elk, the deer, the bear, over the beautiful hills that sur- 
round us ; once we had full possession of this valley, and no one disputed our 
right. Moon after moon rolled on, and our fathers left the valley for better 
hunting grounds, north and west, but before they left, ' good Father Onas, 
(William Penn) made a treaty with our fathers, by which they sold him a 
large piece of land, which is called after William Penn — Pennsylvania — he 
gave our fathers a copy of the treaty — large paper — which, I am sorry to say, 
is lost. Now our learned young men tell us, that in this treaty with good 
father Onas, the northern line of his purchase here was the Susquehanna 
River, and not the forty-second parallel of north latitude, as laid down on the 
' paper pictures ' — maps — of the whites. Now, brothers, we come to you as 
the representatives of our nation to claim this land. We believe we have 
never sold it. We come not to take it from you, but to sell it. Our good 
father Onas — William Penn — always dealt fair with the red man. We would 
never claim anything that was wrong of the children or friends of Onas if we 
knew it. When famine came upon the early friends of Onas, did not our 
fathers supply the wants of the starving friends of Onas, by hunting and fish- 
ing for them, and when bad hostile Indians troubled them, did not our 
fathers place the white feather of protection over the doors of their log wigwams. 
And while we acknowledge that bad Indians, many bad Indians, did take the 
king's money and fight with the king's men, our brothers will witness, and 
your history of the war will witness, that the nation, or that part of the 
nation that we represent — the Oneidas — never raised the war cry against our 
brothers. And now, if we have a good right to this land, we have great con- 
fidence in our friends, the children of our great and good father, William 
Penn. that they will do right and just by us. We wait your answer.' 

" The speaker for the settlers, after a few words in an undertone with them, 
made a low bow to the chief, and to the other members of the delegation who 
sat on each side of their chief, in the form of a semicircle, said: ' Friends and 
brothers, we are pleased with the words of the noble chief who has so eloquent- 
ly spoken. The settlers, who now surround me, have chosen me to answer 
the chief. They desire me to thank him, and the other braves who sit before 
us, for the kind and pacific manner in which their great chief has set forth 
their claim to this part of the land we occupy, and upon which we have built 
our wigwams. They also desire me to say, that they are not ignorant that 
those that you represent were always the friends of our good father, William 
Penn, and have always proved true to his friends, and shall always cherish in 
remembrance those kind offices of our red brethren in times past. And here, 
almost under the shade of the three ' Old Indian Apple Trees,' planted by 
your fathers, we pledge ourselves anew to our red brothers, that nothing 
arising out of your present claim shall mar the peace or lessen the friendship 
that has so long existed between us. We are very sorry, however, to inform 
you that our ' head man,' Judge William Thomson, is away on a long jour- 
ney, and as to your rights to this land, we must confess that we are ignorant. 
We settled here holding the titles to our lands under the charter of William 
Penn, never doubting his knowledge as to the extent of his purchase of your 
fathers. When our ' head man ' returns, and it should prove that our good 
father, and your good father, Onas, was mistaken, and that your fathers never 
parted with this land, we pledge ourselves, as the honest descendants of the 
good William Penn, to buy of you these lands, on which we have settled and 
built our wigwams. If our brothers will tarry with us until our 'head man' 
returns, which will be in eight or ten days, the hospitalities of this Log Tav- 
ern shall be yours, without cost to you, and in the mean time you can amuse 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 71 

yourselves, perhaps, in hunting the deer on these beautiful hills, where once 
your fathers trod. And if our brothers desire it, we will join you in the chase. 
But if you cannot gratify us in this, but must sooner return to your own peo- 
ple, then we pledge ourselves again, that you shall hear from us when our 
head man returns.' 

" The interpreter of the Indians, after consulting with the delegates, said, 
that, in behalf of his companions, he returned many thanks for the very kind 
answer, and for their pressing invitation to remain and enjoy the hospitalities 
of their friends ; but,' said he, ' we are compelled to deny ourselves this great 
enjoyment. Business at the Council House of the Six Nations demands our 
return, where among our own people they would await a letter from our head 
man, and there would invoke their Great Spirit — your Great God — to shower 
blessings upon the head of the friends of William Penn.' 

"The next day these Indians left for their homes in Northern New York. 
When Judge Thomson returned, the settlers soon acquainted him with this 
new claim to their lands. Judge Thomson sent to the capital of the State, 
for a certified copy of William Penn's treaty with the Indians. In due time 
the Judge received a fac-simile copy of said treaty, and many of our citizens 
of that day had the pleasure of seeing and examining this copy of Penn's 
treaty with the Indians, before the Judge forwarded the same to the Council 
House of the Six Nations. This copy was described to the writer, as a great 
curiosity. The names of all the chiefs were plainly written out, and at the 
termination of each name was the sign manual or mark of the chief; at the 
eud of one name was a bow, another an arrow, another a bow and arrow 
crossed, another deers' horns, another a deer's head and horns, another the 
form of a new moon, etc. etc., each name having a different mark representing 
their implements of war, hunting, game, trophies, etc. 

"This treaty plainly fixed the northern boundary of our State on the forty- 
second parallel of north latitude, thus dissipating the fears of the settlers. 
This copy of Penn's treaty, Judge Thomson forwarded to the address left by 
the Indians, since which time, neither our fathers, nor we of the second or 
third generation, have heard anything more about the Indians' claim to these 
lands." 

Almon Munson, a carpenter, came May, 1800. The next year 
he brought food for his family from Tioga Point, in a canoe. 

In 1800 Major Trowbridge was Collector of State Revenue 
for Wheelingboro' and " Nine Partners." 

About this time Oliver Trowbridge and others petitioned for 
"a road from the plantation of Ichabod Buck (at Red Rock), 
extending up the river to the north line of the State," and also, 
one " from the north line, on the east side of the Susquehanna, 
down the same to Abner Comstock's to a fording, thence across 
the river, to intersect the first mentioned road, near the plantation 
of William Smith." Simeon Wylie and David Brownson were 
the viewers. 

In 1801, still another road, or marked path at least, was 
gained, " from the north line of the State near the seventeenth 
mile-stone, down to the road that leads from Great Bend to 
Harmony." 

The taxables of "Wheelingboro"' this year were ninety, 
and the amount of tax, $810.59 ; David Brownson, Assessor ; S. 
Blair and S. Hatch, assistants. (The compiler cannot explain 
the fact that the tax, in 1803, was but $70.) 



72 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

There were then three slaves in the town : one was owned by 
Jonathan Dimon, another by David Barnura, and a third by 
Anna Newman. 

There were two " Phesitions"— Noah Kincaid and Asa Corn- 
well. 

The innkeepers were : David Summers, Eobert Corbett, 
James Parmeter, and Sylvanus Hatch. Each of the latter two 
owned half a ferry. 

Jonathan Cunningham had a ferry opposite the present Trow- 
bridge farm. It was called " the lower ferry." Mr. Du Bois 
says of this : — 

"James Parmeter's ferry having become very profitable, another pioneer 
built a house on the opposite side of the river; and he too built a ferry boat, 
and opened an opposition ferry. As the road through here was fast becoming 
a great thoroughfare, both of these ferrymen made money. In the winter 
season, they found it difficult to cross with boats, owing to the floating ice in 
the middle of the river. As the country along the Susquehanna was mostly 
a wilderness, our river did not freeze entirely over as readily as now. Strong 
ice would form along each shore for four or five rods in width, the middle of 
the stream remaining for a long time open. These ferrymen would then pro- 
ceed to build an ice bridge after this manner : After measuring the distance 
from the solid ice on each side of the river, they would commence immedia- 
tely above, and laying out the width and length they would saw out of the 
solid shore ice a bridge, and, holding fast one end, would swing the other end 
across the open chasm till it rested against the solid ice on the other side ; 
then by dipping water from the river in freezing weather they soon formed 
a strong and safe bridge for teams to pass, the travellers freely paying toll 
for crossing this ice bridge. This ferry was kept up until the fall of 1814, 
when the first Great Bend Bridge was completed." 

The " merchants" on the tax list for 1801 were D. Barnum 
(not here three years later) and S. Hatch ; the blacksmiths, 
Philo demons and Jonathan Newman; cordwainer, Abner 
Eddy. William Campbell, Joel Hull, and Eli Nichols appear 
as new taxables. 

Tench Francis, landholder, was taxed for 13,158 acres. Un- 
improved land was valued at fifty cents per acre. 

The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars was drawn from 
the county treasury for the erection of bridges over the large 
creeks of this town. 

Asa Eddy was justice of the peace when all Luzerne County, 
then including Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wyoming, besides 
the most of its present territory, had but ten justices. His 
jurisdiction extended over more than half of what is now Sus- 
quehanna County, as it was composed of Nicholson, Willing- 
borough, and Lawsville, in their original extent. The whole 
number of taxables in his district was two hundred and eighty- 
six. 

Eush, as a justice's district, containing one hundred and 
three taxables, occupied the remaining part of our territory 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 73 

(Isaac Hancock, J. P.), with the exception of a fraction of 
Braintrim. 

In 1802, a road was viewed from the settlement near the 
mouth of the Snake Creek to Great Bend, four miles. Timothy 
Pickering, Jr., was one of the viewers of another road in Wil- 
lingborough about the same time. No portion of the county, 
at this period, was so well provided with roads, such as they 
were, and still the river was the great highway. 

Ichabod Buck, Rufus Lines, and Hezekiah Leach, were ap- 
pointed supervisors of this district in 1803. 

Jason Wilson, early in the century, was located near the 
east line of Liberty. Jotham French was here in 1804. At 
the same time, Marmaduke Salsbury lived on the south side 
of the Susquehanna River, at the mouth of Mitchell's Creek. 
He afterwards moved to Harmony, now Susquehanna Depot. 
C. Longstreet had come from New Milford to the ferry-house. 
Elections were held here. The total vote for Congressman, in 
1804, was one hundred and thirty-nine. In 1805, orders drawn 
on the treasurer of Luzerne, by the supervisors of Willingboro', 
amounted to one hundred and seventy-nine dollars. 

In 1806, Nicholson was made a separate district; Willing- 
borough and Lawsville were still in one. Hitherto, great indefi- 
niteness appears to have existed in Wilkes-Barre, as to the 
locality of persons in either of these sections, persons in Great 
Bend being placed in Nicholson, and vice versa. Wilkes-Barre 
post-office received letters for persons at Great Bend. 

New Milford township was erected, August, 1807, and then 
the taxables of Willingborough were reduced to thirty-one, 
though still including those of Harmony and Oakland. 

It is just possible Wm. Preston, a taxable of 1801, was on 
the Strong farm, after Sylvanus Hatch, and before Josiah 
Stewart, but it is certain the latter had occupied it prior to 
1807. An advertisement appeared in the Luzerne 'Federalist,' 
in April of the same year, which runs thus: — 

"To be sold, a valuable plantation at the Great Bend of the Susquehanna, 
by Josiah Stewart. -The public terry appertains to the farm, which has also 
an orchard of two hundred bearing trees. The turnpike from Newburgh yj 
crosses to the State line." 

From the Bend, Mr. Stewart moved to where McKinney's 
Mills are; then to Snake Creek, within half a mile of the 
State line, where he built and run a saw-mill, then returned to 
Great Bend, and afterwards to Windsor. Elections were held 
at his house after the organization of Susquehanna County. 

In connection with a sketch of Josiah Stewart, given by Mr. 
Du Bois, his remarks respecting the ancestors of Mr. S., at 
Wyoming, though a digression here, may be allowed as a part 



74 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of the history of the county with which our settlers were still 
connected in 1807. 

"Among those that left Forty Fort, on the morning of the great battle 
and massacre, were Captain Lazarus Stewart and his son Lieut. Lazarus 
Stewart, Jr. Captain Stewart had often before led the settlers against their 
Pennamite foes, in their murderous raids against the Connecticut settlers, 
and was fitly chosen to command a company, in this their day of trial. His 
son Lieut. Lazarus Stewart, Jr., also, as lieutenant, commanded a company; 
both were slain fighting bravely at the head of their men, and terrible indeed 
was that fearful struggle. That noble band of heroes, numbering three hun- 
deed, fought not only for their own lives, but for the lives and safety of their 
wives and dear ones who had fled to the forts for safety, and were now 
trembling with fear lest the tide of battle should turn against their only 
protectors. But these brave men were doomed ; they were greatly out-num- 
bered, out-flanked, and surrounded, and an indiscriminate massacre followed. 
The Indians were stimulated by promises of gold and plunder to deeds of 
terrible cruelty. Few families in the valley suffered more than the Stewarts 
on that bloody day. Josiah Stewart, a son of Lieut. Lazarus Stewart, Jr., 
and a grandson of Captain Lazarus Stewart, too young to engage in the 
terrible strife of that fearful day, escaped the slaughter that followed, and 
afterwards settled on the Susquehanna Eiver, at Great Bend, and at one 
time owned and occupied what was afterwards known as the " Thomson 
Farm," upon which Great Bend Borough is now located. Josiah Stewart 
came here at an early day, and although not wealthy, was an enterprising 
citizen, had something to do in building, and at one time owned our first 
grist-mill, and built one of the first saw-mills in the neighborhood. His 
family consisted of his wife, and three sons — Lazarus, the eldest (named after 
his grandfather, Captain Lazarus Stewart, who fell in the Wyoming massa- 
cre), Charles, and Espy. His daughters were Hannah, Pattie, Betsey, and 
Frances. Mr. Stewart believed in the education of the youth of our country, 
especially females. On them (he used to say), as teachers and mothers, the 
future welfare of our country depended ; and, acting upon this belief, he gave 
his daughters as good an education as his means would warrant, and some of 
your readers will remember the days of log school-houses and slab-benches, 
and with what fidelity and perseverance, as school-teachers, Hannah, Pattie, 
Betsey, and Frances Stewart labored to educate the children of the early 
settlers. As to his sons, Mr. Stewart used to say that they must get along- 
through the world with less education, as they, in all probability, as pioneers, 
would have to rough it, as he and his father had done. This saying, as to 
his sons, proved prophetic. Lazarus, the eldest, not finding a place on this 
continent that suited him to settle upon, took to the sea. Charles, after living 
in the neighborhood several years, moved to the West as a pioneer. Espy, 
the youngest son, following the tide of emigration westward, never rested 
until from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains he saw before him that 
great barrier to further western progress, the Pacific Ocean. He settled in 
California. 

"Josiah Stewart had one peculiarity which the writer never noticed in any 
other person, that of sleeping in a standing position. If he could touch one 
shoulder to a tree, or to the wall of a room, he would sleep as soundly in an 
upright position, as if reclining upon a bed of down. Perhaps he acquired 
this habit from standing sentinel in Wyoming Valley, in those troublous 
times, and watching the Pennamites on the one hand, and the Indians on the 
other, while the older and more able-bodied members were laboring in the 
fields ; for it is a well-known fact that in those days, those that were not old 
enough to labor were thus posted as sentinels, to give warning of the 
approach of their enemies. Young Stewart thus stood and watched hour 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 75 

after hour, until exhausted nature sought repose in balmy sleep ; and yet he 
kept his position of apparent watchfulness. 

" Mr. Stewart lived to a good old age. His life was a life of usefulness as a 
citizen, and as a pioneer he labored hard to smooth the way for those who 
should come after him. He died in the adjoining town of Windsor, N. Y., 
at the residence of his son, Charles Stewart." 

In 1807, William Thomson, afterwards an associate judge of 
Susquehanna County for many years, came to Great Bend and 
purchased the farm advertised by Josiah Stewart, the oldest 
cultivated farm in the township. He was a native of Scotland. 
He filled several important offices, the duties of which he per- 
formed with ability and fidelity. He had a large estate which 
lie had accumulated by industry and economy, and which he 
bequeathed to needy friends. He died January 30, 1842, in 
his seventy-eighth year. His house formed a wing of the 
National Hotel, which was burned December 13, 1869. 

Samuel Blair, Alexander McDonald, Daniel and Harvey 
Curtis, Thomas Newell, James Clark (one mile south of the 
village), Moses Foster (three miles ditto), James Gould, Morris 
Jackson, David Buck, and Charles Fraser were all here before 
November, 1807. 

Dr. Charles Fraser, a native of Connecticut, came to Great 
Bend from Sangerfield, Oneida County, N. Y. With but 
temporary absence, he resided at Great Bend, as a practicing 
physician, until the fall of 1812. Being then elected to fill the 
offices of prothonotary, register and recorder, he removed to 
Montrose. 

Previous to 1807 Joseph Bowes, an Englishman, came to 
Great Bend, and erected a large house (dwelling and store) 
on the south bank of the Susquehanna River, the present resi- 
dence of Dr. B. Patrick. It has been used as a church and a 
seminary, and is rich in local historical associations. 1 

Dr. Eleazar Parker came to Great Bend August, 1807. He 
was commissioned, February, 1808, the first postmaster in Sus- 
quehanna County. (See Physicians.) 

J. J. Way was a taxable of 1807. 

Asahel Avery, Sr., and family came from their farm (now 
Woodbourne) and located one-half mile south of the ferry. 

1 The residence of Dr. E. Patrick was burned on the niglit of the 9th Decem- 
ber, 18G9. It had not been occupied for some time, and the origin of the fire 
could not have been accidental. This time-honored building, erected in 1805, 
was so substantially built that it still retained its "youthful appearance" — and 
together with the beautiful grounds and shrubbery by which it was surrounded, 
made it an ornament to the village. Many persons will remember it as the 
residence of Mrs. Jane A. Lusk, formerly of Montrose, whose noble life and, 
character are still as fresh and green as the evergreens that cover her tomb, in 
sight of the smouldering ashes of her hospitable home — made beautiful and 
attractive by her own hands. After this house had ceased to be used for school 
purposes, it stood empty a long time until the Erie Railroad was constructing, 
when Nicholas Du Bois occupied it. 



76 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

November, 1808, Dr. R. H. Rose petitioned for a road from 
Silver Lake to Great Bend, which was granted June, 1809. In 
the mean time he had purchased of the Francis estate lands 
extending from the river to the State line, and also west and 
south of the river, in the vicinity of Great Bend. He laid out 
the latter in village lots, and in accordance with his wish, the 
road following the river for a short distance from the Bowes 
mansion was vacated. 

Captain Benjamin Case removed from Newburgh, N. Y., with 
his family, in 1808, to Great Bend. After a few years he 
removed to Warren, Pa., where, " as one of the pioneers of this 
then remote section, he pitched his tent, and aided in the work 
of civilization and progress, and where, after a life of honor and 
usefulness, he was gathered to his fathers." His son, Benjamin 
T., married in Warren, and, in 1816, removed to Montrose. 

Mr. Joseph Backus, now of Bridgewater, says of himself in 
1809 :— 

"Being then a lad of seventeen, I was wending my way from the land of 
steady habits, in company with Captain Gifford, who was on his way hither 
to visit his friends, who had previously emigrated to this then uncultivated 
wilderness. Having reached Great Bend, crossed the river, and stopped to 
feed at Du Bois's Hotel, while we were waiting for the team to feed, a com- 
pany from Bridgewater came out there for the purpose of trading with Mr. 
Bowes, the merchant — quite a common occurrence in those days, there being 
then only one small mercantile establishment where Montrose now stands, 
kept by Isaac Post, on the very spot where Koon now keeps. I believe he 
also kept public house, and I think that that and one other house were the 
only tenements where Montrose now stands. This company proved to be 
some of the very friends the captain was coming to visit, so you can imagine 
the pleasure of meeting; and they manifested it by postponing their return, 
crossed the river to Hatch's, took dinner, spent the afternoon right merrily, 
and were ready to start home about sundown ; a bitter cold night, snow 
about three feet deep. Of course we had to occasionally warm, first at Bar- 
num's, then at Dr. Cornell's grandfather's, on the farm now owned by C. B*. 
Lathrop, in Bridgewater; no inconvenience in those Asljs, for every family 
kept large fires all night, and the latch-string always out. 

"Asahel Avery, father of Squire Avery, of Montrose, Captain John Bard, 
Edward Fuller, afterwards sheriff of the county, and Benjamin Lathrop, 
then a young man, having lately entered the matrimonial state with the 
daughter of said A. Avery, and afterwards major in the militia and judge 
of the county court, constituted the company. About midnight we reached 
the house of Mr. Fuller, the terminus of our ride, on the farm where James 
Knapp now lives, and I believe the southern limit of Bridgewater township, 
but then the central point, for town-meetings and elections were held there 
for some time after." 

In 1810, Harmony was set off from Willingborough, and 
the latter was then reduced to six miles square, the present size 
of Great Bend. 

Joseph Stewart's fulling mill was advertised for business as 
early as 1811. 

Colonel Jeremiah Baker came to Great Bend in 1812. He 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 77 

was a tanner, and tanned in the swamp on the land now owned 
by Isaac Van Nosdale. He afterwards kept a store in the house 
long occupied by Rev. J. B. McCreary, and in Samuel Dayton's 
farm-house. He died at McKinney's Mills. A published remi- 
niscence of the early times says: — 

" Mr. Bowes, father of Joseph (Bowes) and grandfather of Ira Corbett's 
wife, was the sole merchant at the Bend. Soon afterwards Colonel Jeremiah 
Baker owned a small tannery and store. Several houses had by this time 
been put up and families moved in. A young stranger (Harrison, a watch- 
maker) came into the place and put up a grocery where the National Hotel 
now stands ; he boarded with Squire Lyman T. Trowbridge's father, then living 
at that place. An incident occurred connected with this young man which 
created considerable excitement. Some ducks were in the river, and he sent 
Augustus Trowbridge, then a boy, for his gun ; upon receiving it, he blowed 
in the barrel, and supposing it was not loaded pointed it at the boy, and was 
about to snap it, but the boy, being afraid, ran away. The young man then 
went to the house, and Trowbridge's two daughters, young ladies, wished to 
learn how to shoot a gun ; he raised the hammer, placed the muzzle to his 
head, and told one of the young ladies to pull the trigger, which she did ; the 
gun proved to be loaded and blew his brains out. He fell with his head 
between the andirons in the fireplace." 

Asahel Avery was appointed justice of the peace of Wil- 
lingborough, in 1812, by Governor Synder. 

Reckhow, father of the late Isaac Reckhow, came in 

1814. The latter occupied a seat in the State Legislature, and 
was for fifteen years an efficient justice. 

Taylortown was settled by William Taylor (father of the 
late Jonathan Taylor of Lanesborough). He died February, 
1851, aged seventy-one; his widow, in 1864, aged seventy-five. 

" Organization of the First Great Bend Bridge Company. — In the year 
1812, the citizens of Great Bend petitioned our Legislature for a charter to 
build a bridge. An act was passed in February, 1812, and approved by 
Simon Snyder, then governor of our State. Under this act, Samuel Hodgdon 
and John B. Wallace, of Philadelphia, and Win. Thomson, Sylvanus Hatch, 
Robert H. Bose, Minna Du Bois, and Richard Barnum, of the county of 
Susquehanna, were appointed commissioners to open books of subscription 
for the stock of said company, in pursuance of the act to authorize the 
governor to incorporate a company for erecting a bridge over the Susque- 
hanna River at Great Bend, where the ferry was then kept, opposite the 
houses of Abraham Du Bois and Sylvanus Hatch, in the district of Willing- 
boro,' and county and district of Susquehanna. 

" These commissioners did not get sufficient stock taken and paid in, to 
warrant building until the spring of 1814. The first meeting of stockholders 
was held February 10, 1814. William Thomson was chosen chairman, and 
James Newman, secretary, and Samuel Blair, Joseph Bowes, and David 
Summers, were chosen as judges of the election of managers. The follow- 
ing were elected : Samuel Blair, James Newman, Noble Trowbridge, John 
Maynard, Minna Du Bois, and Daniel Lyon. Joseph Bowes was chosen 
treasurer, James Newman, secretary. At this meeting proposals were re- 
ceived for building the first Great Bend bridge. The contract was awarded 
to Peter Burgot, of Oxford, N. Y. 

" September 14, 1814, the following persons were appointed to inspect the 
new bridge, to see if it was completed according to contract : Joseph Bowes, 
David Buck, and Haynes Johnson — bridge accepted. 



78 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



"At the same meeting', Christopher; Longstreet was appointed to and 
accepted the office of toll gatherer and gate-keeper. On the third day of 
March, 1822, this first bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, was rebuilt 
the same summer, by the brothers, Charles and Zedic Chamberlin. On the 
19th of January, 1832, this second bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, 
and was rebuilt the following summer by Abraham Du Bois. In the spring 
of 1846, this third bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, and in the summer 
following, the present covered bridge was completed by Reuben C. Brock 
and Joseph Du Bois, to whom this contract was awarded." 

The projectors and patrons of an enterprise of such lasting- 
benefit to the people of Great Bend, and scarcely less to those 
living at great distances from it, should not be forgotten. 

Subscribers to the Stock of the Great Bend Bridge, September 7, 
1812.— 

William Thomson, Sophia Luce, Almon Munson, John J. Storm, 

Minna Du Bois, Wm. Luce, David Crocker, Storm Rosa, 

Samuel Blair, Thad. Mason, Peter Burgot, Abraham Storm, 

Abraham Du Bois, Adam Burwell, Isaac Rosa, James Newman, 

Asahel Avery, Daniel Sneden, Sylvns. Hatch, Emery Carey, 

John Maynard, Dav. Summers, N. Trowbridge, John Hilborn, 

Jeremiah Baker, Rufus Fish, Hezek. Leach, Joseph Bowes, 

Isaac D. Luce, John Fish, Daniel Lyon, Frederick Henn. 



Amount subscribed by the above, $6000. All of the above named have 
passed away. 

Ebenezer Brown, a carpenter, came from Orange County, 
N. Y., and assisted in building the bridge three times. 

He was an associate of the hunter, Joe Fish, on his success- 
ful excursions after the wild animals that were the vexation 
of the farmers. At one time they caught three young wolves, 
and carried them home in a bag, and, the following day, they 
killed the old wolf. 

Eattlesnakes were another pest. Mrs. Brown (now living) 
was once picking berries on Strong Hill, and sat down to rest 
on a ledge, from which she was warned to flee, and it was well 
she heeded, as twenty-one rattlesnakes were found under the 
same rocks that day. 

Ebenezer B. died in 1871. 

Mrs. B. says : " In the spring of 1821, John McKinney's, where is now 
Mcintosh's, was the only house on Main Street south of Minna Du Bois's 
hotel. He afterwards built what is now a part of the Mansion House. This 
store was separate, nearer the bridge. 

" Colonel Baker owned the McCreary place, and immediately west of it, 
Putnam Catlin, Esq., lived. Mr. Bowes had then left the house next below. 

" Sylvanus Hatch then kept the block (or log) tavern near the bridge, and 
Judge Thomson's house was the only house between that and Noble Trow- 
bridge's." 

On the 4th of July, 1822, there was a grand dinner in the 
orchard by the log tavern. The oration was in the school- 
house, on the south side of the river, and the orator was so 
drunk, there was considerable excitement in the audience. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 79 

They went back to Hatch's, to dance. The ball-room was 
reached by stairs so narrow the company passed in single file, 
and dancing was confined to the centre of the room, as the 
roof sloped so on the sides that a person could not there stand 
upright. There was room only for "French fours." Blind 
Joe (white), the fiddler, was always along. 

Isaac Stoddard and wife, from Litchfield County, Connecticut, 
in 1816, were among the very earliest settlers of Locust Hill. 
He died in 1853, aged eighty-two; she died in 1856, aged 
eighty. They had a large family. 

CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 

Sixteen members of the families who came to the vicinity of 
Great Bend in 1788 were church members. These were, Eev. 
Daniel Buck and wife, Ichabod Buck and wife, Stephen Murch 
and wife, Thomas Bates and wife, Deacon (before he came) 
Strong and wife, Deacon Merryman and wife, Deacon Jonathan 
Bennett and wife, Jonathan Bennett, Jr., and Bishop Merryman. 
There occurred a religious revival among them in 1789. Deacon 
Asa Adams was an early and a very exemplary member. All 
were very strict in the observance of the Sabbath. They would 
not carry a gun in hunting for the cows on the Sabbath, though 
wild animals were then frequently encountered. 

Tradition speaks of "the famous Buck controversy" in 1790, 
as causing a division in the heretofore pleasant unity of the set- 
tlement, and a long-continued soreness of feeling between indi- 
viduals which is said to have manifested itself at "raisings," 
and those siding with the minister were called the church party, 
and the other the Murch party, the latter being the accusers. 

It is true that at one time there was a controversy between 
Mr. Buck and another minister before a ministerial association, 
respecting a similar charge, that is, false statements; but Mr. 
B. is said in this instance to have exculpated himself. 

Eev. Seth Williston, a missionary from Connecticut, preached 
occasionally at Great Bend early in the " nineties," and was. 
probably one of the " two ministers from Connecticut" who 
formed, about 1792, a Congregational Church — the first church 
in the county. We are told that in 1798 it numbered forty 
members, including the " Lower Settlement," now Conklin, 
N.Y. 

A reorganization took place in 1802. In common with other 
Congregational churches of the county, it afterwards became 
Presbyterian in government. 

The following statement of John B. Buck was published in 
1869 :— 



80 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" Early Public Worship. — Seventy-five years ago, there was a log dwell- 
ing-house north of where the Erie Depot now stands, at Great Bend, used 
as a place of worship. The congregation was scattered up and down the 
river, in cabins. The only means of getting from here was by canoes. They 
went as far as the rift or rapids, where they left their canoes, and walked past 
the rapids, then took passage in a large canoe around by my father's. For 
dinner, they carried milk in bottles, and mush. They listened to one sermon 
in the forenoon, and then came back to canoe and ate dinner, then went back 
to second service ; Daniel Buck was minister. In summer this was their 
means of travel. 

" With increase of families the means of communication increased. In 
winter, there was no other way save by foot-paths. For many years there 
were no denominations save Presbyterians. About seventy years ago, the 
Methodists began an influence about two miles from here. Everybody 
espoused Methodism, men, women, and children. They frequently walked 
from five to six miles to be present at prayer meetings. 

" My sisters were at one of the prayer meetings, and, as an evidence of the 
change in the spirit, understanding, and manners of the people, I give lan- 
guage used in two of the prayers on that occasion. The reader will bear in 
mind that this was seventy years ago, and that the people were poor, and had 
little of the means or knowledge of the present day. I do not conceive that 
either of the individuals mentioned cherished a wrong spirit toward their fel- 
lows, but their language gives an illustration of the strength of party spirit 
at that time. 

" Elder Lewis said, ' Send the mind of the people up the river down to me, 
and the people down the river (the Presbyterians) may go to hell, and I care 
not.' 

" Mrs.' Stid, at the same meeting, said : ' Lord, take Capt. Buck by the 
nape of the neck and shake him over hell until his teeth chatter like a 
raccoon.' "' 

Mr. Buck elsewhere states : — 

" The school-houses of those early days were exceedingly primitive. They 
were built of logs ; the seats made of slabs, with legs inserted in two-inch 
augur-holes for supports, and without backs. The desks for writing were 
along the wall, and when the lads and lasses practised at writing, they sat 
with their backs to the school. The rooms were warmed by a fireplace, and 
in these rude shelters the religious meetings were held and the early churches 
established. A school-house was afterwards built upon the ground now occu- 
pied by Mr. McKiuney's store. It was used for a long time for a meeting- 
house. Previously, we had used Mr. Strong's dwelling-house, which stood a 
few rods north of the water-tank." 

The first district school was taught in 1800, by Alba Dimon. 
Abijah Barnes taught in 1801, in a room of a log dwelling 
vacated for the purpose. The first singing school was taught 
by Almon Munson in the chamber of Judge Thomson's house, 
or what was afterwards his. 

Eeligious meetings were sometimes held in Esq. Dimon's 
barn. 

1 This prayer is said to have been used by another in reference to one then 
present, who took it all in good part, since to the offending portion was added, 
" But don't drop him in, Lord ! don't drop him in, for he's precious." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 81 

The following is J. Du Bois's account of 

" The First School-house. — The early settlers of this valley, to their 
honor, let it ever be remembered, felt it their duty at a very early day of its 
settlement to build a respectable edifice, in which they could educate the 
rising generation, and in which they could meet to worship God. They not 
only felt it their duty, but they at once acted in the matter by calling a meet- 
ing, at which a committee was appointed to circulate subscriptions to raise 
funds for the purpose of building a house, not only large enough to hold all 
the children in the township, but large enough to accommodate all the people 
of the valley who wanted to meet for worship. A subscription was drawn 
up, signed and circulated, and another meeting was held to hear the report 
of the subscription committee. The amount of subscriptions was reported. 
Many of the subscribers were then living in log houses, with roofs made by 
slabs split out of logs by hand, and others with roofs made of the boughs of 
the hemlock. Yet, at this meeting, it was resolved that this first house which 
they were about to build and dedicate to these noble purposes, should be a 
frame building sided with sawed pine siding, and shingled with good pine shin- 
gles, to be fourteen feet between joists, and twenty by forty feet on the ground, 
and to be finished in a workmanlike manner. One of the settlers proposed 
that a belfry and steeple should adorn the building. This proposition was 
objected to on the ground that the amount subscribed would not warrant this 
additional expense. The individual proposing this then arose and said that, 
as he was desirous of seeing at least one thing in this valley pointing heaven- 
ward, if they would build a spire he would add ten dollars to his subscription ; 
a lady present then arose and said that she would add ten dollars ; others 
followed suit, and the matter was soon decided in favor of a steeple. The- 
windows were to be large, and Gothic in style, and a pulpit was to be built in 
the north end of the building; a porch was to cover the entrance, and as the 
house was to face the street, the spire was to be on the centre of the building. 
Large swinging partitions divided the interior of the house in the middle, 
when used for school purposes, but were hoisted and kept in position by sup- 
ports, when used for church purposes. This house was to be free to all 
denominations of worshippers. After the above plan this house was built. 
The steeple ou this first house of worship, built at Great Bend, displayed good 
architectural design, and ornamental finish, and was painted white ; but I 
am sorry to have to record the fact that neither the fathers nor their de- 
generate sons ever painted the body of this otherwise fine building. But in 
it many youth were educated, and many a sinner, convicted of his great in- 
gratitude to a kind and ever-merciful God, was pointed heavenward for relief, 
by the faithful teacher and preacher. As the roads were very rough in those 
days, most of the worshippers came to meeting on horseback, often two 
riding on one horse. As we had no settled ministers of that time, Captain 
Ichabod Buck, a soldier of the Revolution, of the Presbyterian faith, when 
there was no pi'eacher present, always opened the meeting by reading a por- 
tion of God's Word, and by prayer. William Buck, his son, led the choir in 
singing, after which Captain Buck read a selected sermon, and invariably 
closed the meeting by calling on Deacon Asa Adams, another soldier of the 
Revolution, for the closing prayer." 

In this school-house the first Sabbath school was started, June 
1st, 1817 or '18, at the suggestion of Elijah, son of Captain 
I. Buck. The first teachers were Miss Jane Du Bois (Mrs. 
Lusk) and a Miss Stewart. 

Harford had set the example, after Eev. Ebenezer Kingsbury 
and Captain Buck had attended the Presbytery, where they 
6 



82 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

listened to an account of what Eobert Eaikes had done in Eng- 
land. 

A very sad state of things appears to have existed prior to 
1815. Infidelity was then very prevalent and outspoken. 

" Some prominent infidels had secured such an interest in our house of 
worship," says one narrator, " that they could control the house ; they then 
turned the church out, and for some time after they met there on the Sabbath 
and read infidel works. One of the most active men in this was then a 
justice of the peace ; in some way he offended one of his infidel friends, who, 
to retaliate, sent a formal complaint against the " Esq." to the governor of 
the State, accusing him of turning a Christian congregation out of their house 
of worship, and of publicly reading infidel works on the Sabbath. 

" The governor took away bis commission, and this put a stop to these 
public meetings." But the feeling towards Christians was exhibited still in 
words such as : " In a little while there will not be ropes enough to hang 
Christians in America." 

It is glory enough for one Sabbath school, that quite a num- 
ber of children from some of these infidel families attended, and, 
prior to 1821, had become hopefully pious. After Mr. Buck, 
there was no regular minister until about this time, Kev. O. 
Hill supplied the pulpit, then Eev. Moses Jewell and Kev. J. B. 
McCreary. Deacon John McKinney and Abraham Du Bois, 
Esq., built the present Presbyterian church. 

Elder Dimock organized the Baptist church, October 27, 1825. 

Deacon Daniel Lyons alone built the meeting-house. Elder 
Frederick was the first minister. The services, for some time 
prior to this date of their suspension, were conducted by Deacon 
Lyons, who had a prejudice against singing, which he maintained 
with a spirit equal to that exhibited by his father, David Lyons, 
— one of the " Boston Tea Party" in 1773 — but his success only 
contributed to the scattering of the flock. Yery recently (sum- 
mer of 1872) the Baptist organization has been revived here. 

The Episcopalians held service in the old Bowes mansion 
before they built a church on the borough side of the river. 

The ministers of this denomination have been: Eevs. Messrs. 
Long, Skinner, Eeese, Bowers, Scott, Hickman, Day, Loup, and 
Jerome. 

The dedication of St. Lawrence Catholic chapel took place 
July 1869. The laying of the corner-stone of the M. E. church 
in August, 1869, was conducted with Masonic ceremonies. The 
building was finished at an expense of $10,500, and was a model 
house of worship. But — fire has laid it low. ' The people, 
however, with commendable spirit, are already rearing another 
upon its site. 

Mr. Joseph Backus contributed the following, in 1870, to the 
Montrose ' Eepublican.' It refers to 1811, when the school- 
house mentioned above may have been burned down. It stood 
at the present railroad crossing on Church Street. A second 
school-house was also burned on the same spot. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 83 

" At the age of nineteen I had an invitation to teach school at Great Bend, 
accepted ; went there and found no school-house, but a vacant dwelling on the 
farm of Jonathan Dimon was obtained, and, having passed a formal examina- 
tion before said Dimon and Adam Burwell, I was duly installed in my new 
domicile, a written agreement drawn up by which each was to pay for what he 
signed or sent, specified terms, three months, four weeks each, five and a half 
days each week, at the exorbitant price of eight dollars per month. Settlers 
being scarce, scholars came quite a distance, from as far up the river as Cap- 
tain Ichabod Buck's. I recollect boarding there, but the names of the chil- 
dren have escaped my memory. Silas and Hiram Buck, of another family, I 
well remember. They were somewhat my senior, and were very agreeable 
companions, especially Silas, whose mild and genial temperament would win 
friends at all times and in all places. I was much pleased when I saw the 
notice of a surprise party at his widow's for her benefit. 1 My services being 
appreciated, the proprietors agreed to build a school-house if I would serve 
the ensuing winter — wages raised to ten dollars. I did so, and the house 
being located farther down the river, brought a new set of scholars from both 
sides of the river, enlarging the circle of my acquaintances and friends. " 

Early in 1831, the Bowes Mansion was converted into a fe- 
male seminary and boarding school, the first Principal of 
which disgraced the "Eev." prefixed to his name. In the fall 
of 1832, James Catlin and Miss Lucretia Loomis had charge of 
the institution. When the latter left for Montrose, it was 
changed to an academy, and only male students were invited, 
J. Corwin, Principal. 

A good normal school is now sustained in Great Bend Bo- 
rough. 

"In Great Bend there are five public burial places. The oldest, 
called the 'Potter's Field,' on the south side of the river, was 
so named because many strangers have been buried there. It 
was given as a free ground by Eobert H. Eose, one of the first 
land-holders of the township, then known as Willingboro. It 
contained ten acres, and was given to Charles Dimon and Wra. 
Thomson as trustees. Next, the ground known as the Newman 
burying ground, one mile southeast of the Brie Depot. This 
is a beautiful spot, well laid out. Jason Treadwell, the murderer 
of Oliver Harper, the only person ever executed in Susquehanna 
County, lies in this ground, with nothing but the senseless turf 
to mark the spot. There are churchyards adjoining the Pres- 
byterian and Episcopal churches, where many of the oldest in- 
habitants are buried. The ground near the Presbyterian church 
was given by Dominicus (Minna) Du Bois, and that near the 
Episcopal church by Wm. Thomson. The only really attractive 
place is Woodlawn Cemetery, one mile east of the town." 

1 Mr. Backus refers to the following newspaper item : — 

"A party of eight old ladies, all widows, made Mrs. Silas Buck an old-fashioned 
visit on Tuesday of this week. Their united ages were six hundred and forty- 
one years, the eldest being ninety-two years of age, and the youngest seventy- 
seven. They were all of Great Bend." 



84 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The following newspaper item from Great Bend appeared in 
=171 r— 



1871:— 

" ' Only waiting till the shadows are a little longer grown, 

Only waiting till the glimmer of the day's last beam is flown.' 

" There are seven of them, in our little borough, good old mothers, whose 
united ages amount in the aggregate to 579 years. Here are their names in 
rotation, from youngest to oldest; Mrs. Silas Buck, Howe, Denison, Leavens- 
worth, Stephens, Wm. Buck, Lydia Thurston." — One year later, and the 
second and fifth on the list were done with " waiting" forever. 



J 



GREAT BEND BOROUGH 



Is about three-fourths of a mile in length, and between one- 
quarter and one-half of a mile in width. It has four streets par- 
allel with the river and east of it, with five streets running east 
and west. It was incorporated November, 1861. It had then 
within its limits "two railroad depots, one large tannery, three 
hotels, and a large number of stores, shops, and dwelling- 
houses, and about seven hundred inhabitants. 

The ground for the Erie Eailroad was broken at Great Bend 
in 1847, and late in December, 1848, it was finished to Bing- 
hamton. The State of New York had agreed to appropriate 
$100,000 to the road on condition it should be finished to 
Binghamton by January 1st, 1849. The company run their 
first train through in time to secure the appropriation. John 
McKinney built his storehouse just previous, and it was at his 
platform the first trains stopped. The first superintendent of 

the road was Kirkwood ; Mr. E. J. Loder succeeded him, 

and the station at Great Bend was first named after him — 
Lodersville — the name also of the post-office, while the village 
on the south side of the river retained its old name — Great 
Bend. The post-office mark of the latter is now Great Bend 
Village, to distinguish it from the borough. 

The Erie Eailroad station is on that part of the old Strong 
farm which Judge Thomson occupied. Lowry Green bought 
this farm, and sold it to William Wolcott, who sold it reason- 
ably as village lots; and by his enterprise conduced greatly to 
the prosperity of the town. The adjoining farm, forming the 
north end of the borough, was purchased by Truman Baldwin. 

The Erie Eailroad pays to Pennsylvania $10,000 yearly for 
the right of way through Susquehanna County, or rather for 
freedom from taxation, and the company finds in the arrange- 
ment a pecuniary gain. 

The State of New York, ten years previous to the construc- 
tion of the road, had desired to procure from Pennsylvania that 
small tract of territory lying north of the Susquehanna Eiver, 
in the township of Great Bend, and also a small gore of land 
lying on the east side of said river, from the State line down to 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 85 

Lanesboro, in Harmony Township, thereby enabling the State 
of New York to locate and construct the New York and Erie 
Railroad down the valley of the Susquehanna River from the 
point where it first enters the State of Pennsylvania to Bing- 
hamton, without leaving their own territory. 

At a meeting held at Great Bend, September 14th, 1839, for 
the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of peti- 
tioning the Legislature of Pennsylvania to adopt measures for 
ceding the above land to New York, it was 

" Resolved, that we are sincerely attached to the laws and Constitution of 
Pennsylvania, and that we cannot better show our attachment than by pro- 
moting her interest and convenience. 

" Resolved, that in our opinion, both the great States of New York and 
Pennsylvania would be sharers in the benefit arising from the construction of 
the New York and Erie Railroad, and that the citizens of both States ought 
to pursue a liberal policy to secure and facilitate the construction of this 
great public improvement on the best possible route. 

" Resolved, that with these views, those of us living within the bounds of 
the above strip of land, have signed our names to the petition in question, 
wishing at the same time to retain the friendly feelings of those we leave in 
case of our separation from them. 

" Resolved, That not being influenced by any political party or party 
measure, we invite all persons friendly to the best interests of all concerned, 
to aid in devising the best possible means to effect the object herein contem- 
plated." 

The President of the meeting was Putman Catlin, Esq., and the Vice- 
Presidents Abraham Du Bois and Charles Dimon. 

A fire, Jan. 1870, consumed the National Hotel. In the 
same year the junction of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and 
Western Railroad was removed to Binghamton. The portion 
of this road extending from Great Bend to Binghamton, a dis- 
tance of fourteen miles, is called " The Valley Railroad." 

There was a company formed for the manufacture of scales; 
the foundry established by Emmet Curtis, and whose scales took 
the first premium at our State Fair, over those of Fairbanks 
and others, but it is now closed. A patent was issued recently 
to Edward R. Playle, of Great Bend, for a furnace for smelting 
steel, iron, etc. 

In the immediate vicinity of Great Bend there are five steam 
saw-mills, cutting on an average five thousand feet of lumber 
a day, besides numerous water-power mills, cutting all together 
probably half a million feet per year. 

On the village side of the river there is a machine-shop for 
the repair of locomotives of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and 
Western Railroad. 

PHYSICIANS. 

Rev. Daniel Buck may have been the first to practice the 
healing art at Great Bend, but Dr. Fobes, who was there in 



86 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1791, or before, was probably the first regular physician in 
Susquehanna County. An amusing story is told at the doctor's 
expense. There was a young, pious widow living at Chenango 
Point (now Binghamton), and Dr. F., then a widower, living at 
Great Bend, paid his addresses to her. He was very pious, 
praying night and morning, also asking a blessing at the table. 
They were married and moved to the Bend. The doctor con- 
tinued praying and saying grace at meals a few days, but sud- 
denly stopping, his wife asked him, "Why do you leave off 
praying?" " Oh, my dear, I've got what I prayed for !" 

The physicians who had lived at the Bend, and had removed 
previous to August, 1807, were Drs. Fobes, Noah Kincaid, and 
Charles Fraser. Dr. Jonathan Gray remained and advertised 
his services at " twenty-five cents for every mile and under ; 
one dollar for every six hours' continuance with a patient sick 
of a fever ;" and added, " all shall be done gratis for any person 
who is less capable to pay than the practitioner is to do with- 
out it." 

In August, 1807, Dr. Eleazar Parker, a native of Connecticut, 
came to Great Bend (then called Willingboro, Susquehanna 
County), and practiced medicine and surgery two and a half 
years successfully. In the fall of that year he was appointed 
Surgeon's Mate to the 129th Eegiment, which had been formed 
the spring previous. He was commissioned the first postmaster 
in the county, February 1, 1808; Isaac Post, of Bridgewater, 
being commissioned one month later. The same year, March 
6, Dr. P. performed the operation of bronchotom} 7 on a little 
girl two years old, and extracted a watermelon seed from her 
windpipe. She recovered and is now living at Harford, and has 
the seed in her possession. (She died January, 1873.) 

He introduced vaccination into the county and vaccinated a 
large number. His practice extended into almost every settle- 
ment in what is now Susquehanna County — a circuit of fifty 
miles of bad roads, on horseback when practicable, but in many 
places there were only foot-paths for miles through the woods 
— and, laborious as it was, it proved very unremunerative, for 
the people were really unable to pay much. 

Dr. Parker married a daughter of Jonathan Dimon, and in 
1810 moved to Kingston, Luzerne County. He was Examining 
Surgeon of the 35th Pennsylvania Eegiment during the war of 
1812 ; has been a teetotaller over forty years, and never pre- 
scribed alcohol to a patient in his practice of sixty years ; and 
now, 1872, at the age of ninety years, is hale and active. On 
petition of Dr. Parker, the north end of the Newburgh Turn- 
pike, finished by D. Summers, was made a post-road. 

In 1813 or 1814, Dr. McFall, an Irishman, educated and 
highly re-spected, came to the Bend and died there about 1835. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 87 



CHAPTER YIII. 

HARMONY. 

The east bend of the Susquehanna River within our county 
may have been settled as early, or even a few months earlier 
than the western, but respecting this nothing further has been 
ascertained than that, "about the time the State line was run," 
Moses Comstock came with his family from Rhode Island, and 
located on the flat between the Starucca and Oanawacta, where 
these streams enter the Susquehanna River. The commissioners 
appointed by the governors of New York and Pennsylvania to 
determine the line between these States, had marked by mile- 
stones ninety miles of it, from the Delaware westward, prior to 
October 12, 1786; and in November, 1787, they reported the 
completion of their task. At the latter period, it is asserted, 
the first white settler, mentioned above, was here; but he had 
no title to the land which he was not obliged eventually to 
relinquish upon the demand of the Pennsylvania claimant, 
Colonel Timothy Pickering. Still, for a dozen years at least, 
he and his sons Asa and Abner continued their improvements, 
and in this vicinity he died. 

In 1789, the mouth of Cascade Creek became the terminus 
of a road which was projected by Samuel Preston, of Wayne 
County (then Northampton), from the north and south road, 
constructed, with some aid from the State, by Tench Coxe and 
Henry Drinker, Jr., of Philadelphia. (The last named was for 
a long period cashier of the Bank of North America, Phila- 
delphia, and was the father of Henry W. and Richard Drinker, 
to whom he gave a tract of 30,000 acres in Luzerne County, 
which was known as " Drinker's Beech," from the timber 
abundant there. He was also a nephew of the Henry Drinker, 
sometimes styled " the Elder," who was founder of the " Drinker 
estate" of 500,000 acres in Susquehanna and other counties.) 

Samuel Preston and John Hilborn had conducted the enter- 
prise of Messrs. Coxe and Drinker, together with Samuel Stanton, 
the first settler of Mount Pleasant. Mr. Preston's own road, as 
given above, was constructed under the impression that the 
settlement he projected on the Susquehanna would eventually 
be a place of much business. 

Rev. S. Whaley, in his 'History of Mount Pleasant,' gives 
the following in reference to this section and Mr. Stanton : — 

" During the summer of 1789 he cleared several acres of land 



8S 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



in this fertile vallejr, erected several dwelling-houses, built a 
store, a blacksmith shop, and a saw-mill. He named the place 
Harmony." 

Messrs. Drinker, Hilborn, and Stanton were associated with 
him in this enterprise also. Mr. Stanton grew enthusiastic and 
muse-inspired over it, of which he left tangible evidence in a 
dozen stanzas of six lines each, which were styled by him, " A 
few lines of poetry, attempted on seeing and assisting in build- 
ing the town of Harmonv, on the Susquehanna Eiver, August 
2, 1789 :"— 

" Sweet, happy place, called Harmony. 
Strangers must say, when they pass by, 

The Founder they approve ; 
Who from a forest wild did raise 
A seat where men may spend their days 

In friendship, peace, and love. 

"How curiously the streets are planned, 
How thick the stores and houses stand, 

How full of goods they are ! 
From north and south the merchants meet, 
Have what they wish for most complete, 

And to their homes repair." 

As we read the transcript of his glowing fancies and contrast 
them with the solitary relic that covers the ground he saw "so 
thick with houses," our amusement is tinged with sadness. Two 

descendants of very early set- 
tlers in this vicinity, them- 
selves over eighty years of 
age, never heard of a mill at 
this point, and say " there 
was no mill in Harmony be- 
fore 1810." With its supe- 
rior mill-sites this seems 
strange. 

The following sketch ap- 
peared in the 'Philadelphia 
Casket,' November, 1828, ac- 
companied by an engraving: 
a reproduction of which we 
give : — 

" Cascade Creek unites itself to 
the Susquehanna about a mile to 
the south of that part of the north- 
ern boundary line of Pennsylvania through which 
the river passes on its entrance into this State. 
The creek is in general rapid, and derives its 
name from a fine cascade of about sixty feet in 
height. This is about half a mile above the 
mouth of the creek, the banks or cliffs of which 



Fijr. 11. Falls of Cascade Creek. 





HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 89 

are so abrupt on both sides tbat the visitant is obliged to wade a consider- 
able part of the way before he can reach the cascade, the beauty of which 
will amply reward his toil. At this place the rock is composed of horizontal 
strata of great regularity, over which the water, catching in its descent, falls 
in a broken sheet of foam. The banks of the creek, above the cascade, are 
skirted with the hemlock spruce (P inus-abies Americana), which, though a 
tree of little value for its timber, adds greatly in the painter's eye to the 
picturesque beauty of the scene." 

A traveler who visited the spot many years ago, in midwinter, 
said : — 

" The intense cold of the two preceding days had completely congealed the 
water of the brook, and chilled the murmur and the roar into silence. It 
seemed indeed as if some magician, while the stream was dashing from rock 
to rock in its joyous uproar, had suddenly arrested it in its course, and turned 
torrent and foam and bubble instantly to stone; and the cataract, in lone 
and icy beauty, now slumbers on its throne." 

The most that was then expected, was a good turnpike road. 

Mr. Preston afterwards connected his road with Stockport 
(his residence) on the Delaware, by a road which he supposed 
would be a great thoroughfare between the two rivers, while 
the north and south road would bring travel from the south, 
and both concentrate at Harmony. 

This place was then a part of old Tioga, which in 1791 was 
set off to Willingborough; and it was not until 1809 that the 
township was organized which bears the name given the settle- 
ment in 1789. 

The north line of the State from the east line of the county 
to the fifteenth mile-stone — nine miles — was the north line of 
the township, and its east and west boundaries extended south 
twelve miles, to the present line between Jackson and Gibson, 
which, continued to Wayne County, formed the southern boun- 
dary. Thus the area of Harmony, as ordered in 1809, included 
the limits of the present township, together with Oakland, and 
the borough of Susquehanna Depot, Jackson, Thomson, and 
the northern part of Ararat. 

More than half the western boundary of the present town- 
ship is the Susquehanna River, which enters the State between 
the twelfth and thirteenth mile-stones, its course being a little 
east of south ; but, from the point where it turns abruptly south- 
west, it enters Oakland, and the western line then follows the 
Lenox and Harmony Turnpike, which lies east of Drinker's 
Creek. 

Besides the three principal streams of the township which 
have had mention, three branches of the Starucca, Hemlock 
Creek, Roaring Brook, and Pig-pen Brook, as well as the 
stream itself, afford fine mill sites, and traverse a great part of 



90 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the township. The source of the Starucca, 1 as also that of the 
Canawacta, is in Thomson, but one branch of the latter " heads" 
in Jackson. This stream is said to commemorate the remnant 
of an Indian tribe that once lingered in the vicinity. The old 
orthography of the word was Conewagta. 

Comfort's Pond, with its islets crossed by the southern line 
of Harmony, is the only lake of the township. 

The broad ridges forming the larger portion of the area of 
Harmony, are still covered with the original forests of beech 
and pine, and contain thousands of acres of unseated land. 

Comstock's Eifts are the rapids in the Susquehanna, two 
miles long, just below the place where Moses Comstock settled. 
This was occupied after he left it by Timothy Pickering, Jr., 
until 1807; and was afterward owned by John Comfort, Mar- 
tin Lane and his heirs, by Jonathan Taylor, and is at present in 
the possession of Egbert Thomas. 

Abner, son of Moses Comstock, was on his father's first loca- 
tion as late as 1800, when a road was viewed from the north 
line of the State, on the east side of the river down to his 
house, "at a fording," whence it crossed the river to join a 
road on the other side near the plantation of William Smith. 
J. B. Buck says of the years just preceding : — 

" There were then no roads or wagons to ride for pleasure, or business. 

"The river was used as the great highway, and the boats were canoes dug 
from a large tree. These, when properly constructed with the ends turned 
up, and properly rounded, supplied an easily propelled, but frail and unsteady 
craft. (Until 1819 there was not even a bridle-path on the south side of the 
river from Harmony to Great Bend.)" 

fie also adds the following incidents: — 

"At the early date of which we have been speaking, the settlers were 
obliged to depend upon the forests very much for their supply of meat. It 
was a daily sight in those days ; a man, dog, aud gun equipped for the forest. 
The chase was successful enough to answer for a dependence. 

" One day Asa Comstock, with his dog, drove a large buck into the river 
opposite where the Presbyterian church, at Susquehanna Depot, now stands. 
It was not all frozen over, and the current carried the dog and deer down 
the stream, until they came to firm ice in the bend of the river. He laid 
down his gun, and, knife in hand, took the buck by the horns, thinking to cut 
his throat aci'oss the edge of the ice. But the animal was yet fresh, and so 
quick with his feet, as with a jerk to draw him into the river; and man, dog, 
and deer were hurried by the rushing current under the ice. There was no 
possibility of returning, and his only hope was in going down stream until 
he found an air hole or opening in the ice. If he rose to the surface the ice 
would stick him fast — he therefore hurried downward as deep in the water as 
possible until he saw light near where the bridge now stands where he 
escaped. 

"He was a large strong man. There was no means of earning money in 

1 This orthography is given, somewhat reluctantly, after consulting the best 
gazetteers. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 91 

this valley except by hunting or making shingles. Money was far from being 
plenty — not as abundant as meat. Owing to these causes, he decided upon 
going into the northern portion of the State of New York to chop cord-wood 
for a furnace near Lake George. While there a severe snow storm kept him 
within doors. He, in company with many Dutch teamsters and several 
Indians, sat around a bar-room fire. Whiskey in those days was drank freely. 
The Dutch were great smokers, and upon this occasion they had nothing to 
do but to drink and smoke. A stout Indian present amused himself by 
passing around, and knocking the pipes from the mouths of the Dutch 
smokers. Comstock was not a habitual smoker, but witnessing the impu- 
dence of the Indian, he procured a pipe and tobacco and joined the circle of 
smoking Dutchmen. Soon the Indian struck his pipe, knocking it to the 
floor, when he at once arose and knocked the Indian where the pipe lay. 
The Indian rose full of fight, and, the landlord forbidding fighting in the 
house, dared C. to follow him. He followed at once, and in passing through 
the hall, picked up a large bear-trap and struck the Indians with it between 
the shoulders, killing him instantly. The other Indians ran as if for dear 
life. 

" This was a critical time for poor Comstock. The Indians would soon 
be back with recruited force. He was advised to flee for his life, for no help 
could save him from the wrath of the Indians. One smoke had been his ruin, 
and would cost him his life. 

"He refused to run. He resolved to stay and meet his fate like a man, 
for, said he, 'if I run, they will surely kill me.' 

"Not long had he to wait. Soon the old Sachem, followed by fourteen 
warriors, was seen approaching. ' Where is the man that killed Indian V 
inquired the Sachem. All had fled but Asa Comstock — ' I am the man,' he 
boldly replied, 'what do you want of me?' 'You good fellow — Indian no 
business to break your pipe — you do right. You good fellow — come have a 
drink.' " 

Abner Comstock afterwards removed to the vicinity of "Wind- 
sor, N. Y. Asa, his brother, resided with their mother on a part 
of William Smith's " plantation," which has since been owned 
by Levi Westfall, and is now in Oakland. Mrs. C. lived many 
years, "a comfort to her children, and a welcome guest to many 
of her old neighbors." 

In November, 1791, John Hilborn, an agent for Henry 
Drinker, came from Philadelphia with his wife, who rode on 
horseback from Stroudsburg with a child in her arms. Their 
settlement was permanent, at the mouth of Cascade Creek. 
Their daughter Mary, now Mrs. Robert McKune, was born 
here August, 1792, and still resides upon the same farm, with 
her son George, opposite the now empty house which her 
father built and occupied many years, and where he died, the 
15th of fourth month, 1826, aged nearly eighty-five. 

This building marks the site of the one which, in 1789, was 
so multiplied by the imagination of Mr. Stanton. A portion of 
the old Stockport road is still traveled along Hemlock Creek 
as far as Jenning's; but, from that point it struck off directly 
over the hills, crossing the "head" of Pig-pen Creek, where it 
was within half a mile of the State line, and thence down to 
Hilborn's. It is now covered with timber. For many years, 



92 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

after his intellect became clouded, the unremitting labor of 
Jesse, the youngest son of John Hilborn, Sen., kept the road 
open. He had a wolf pit by the side of the road, near Pig-pen 
Creek. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dilling, parents of Mrs. John Hilborn, were 
here very early, and both are buried in Harmony. 

It is said the first religious meetings in Harmony were those 
of the Friends, at the house of John Hilborn. 

If there were Presbyterians here, their services were held 
at the west bend of the river. 

The following sketch of John Hilborn was first published 
in the 'Bucks County Patriot,' June, 1826, and, a little later, 
in the 'Eegister' of Montrose. Though a double I is here given 
to his name, it is generally omitted. 

''John Hillborn was a native of Bucks County. He was brought up by 
his grandfather, Stephen Twining, who had a grist-mill. J. Hillborn after- 
wards conducted, for a number of years, a merchant mill on the Neshamony, 
and later, run a saw-mill at Coryell's ferry. During the war of the Revolu- 
tion, he was a non-combatant, being a Quaker, and wns then living with his 
elder brother Joseph, on Brodhead's Creek, seven miles above Stroudsburg. 
Early in June, 1778, they apprehended danger from the Indians, being set 
on by the British forces at Niagara. An agreement had been made by the 
Hillborns with John Price, who lived seven miles above, on the north branch 
of the creek, that if either of them heard of any Indian disturbance, he 
should immediately inform the other. One morning, an old woman, living 
two miles above, came running to Hillborn's house, and she told them her 
son's family were all killed or taken, and she only was suffered to escape on 
aecount of her age. Joseph Hillborn fled with his wife across Brodhead's 
Creek. John, however, remembered his promise to Price, and thought, as a 
hunter, well knowing the woods, he could carry the information with safety. 
About one mile from the house was a high conical hill, which Hillborn de- 
termined to ascend for the purpose, if possible, of observing the motions of 
the Indians. In so doing, however, he did but accelerate his fate, for the In- 
dians had taken possession before him, and upon his advance, presented their 
guns at him and demanded his surrender. There was no alternative. He 
submitted, and they extorted from him a promise never to attempt an escape. 
Then they bound a burden on his back and ordered him to march. He soon 
discovered they had with them all the family mentioned above, except one little 
boy, who made so much noise, they killed and scalped him near the house. 

" According to Indian customs, they traveled on the highest ground in 
order to keep a look-out. As they came in sight of John Price's house, the 
Indians closely examined Hillborn as to who lived there? what sort of a 
man was he ? did he keep a gun ? was he rich ? etc. It severely exercised 
his mind — he was all anxiety to save Price — and he well knew if the Indians 
found anything misrepresented, it would be worse for all. He told them the 
plain truth, that Price was a poor, inoffensive man, had nothing to do with the 
war, but did keep a gun to support his family in meat. They held a council in 
Indian, and his heart was almost overcome, when he heard the Indian captain 
pronounce in English, ' Let them live.' 

"The Indians hurried the march for fear of being pursued, and great hard- 
ships were encountered, especially by the women and children, in wading the 
many deep streams of water. Hillborn discovered that their sufferings ex- 
cited sympathy, but there was a great diversity in the characters or disposi- 
tion of the Indians. The most conspicuous and amiable among them was a 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 93 

private, a little, smart, active Mohawk. The worst of the company were 
white men, one of whom, Thomas Hill, conducted himself in such a manner 
towards the women prisoners, that the Indian captain endeavored to shame 
him. A pretty little girl among the prisoners used to cry for milk and more 
victuals, and the little Mohawk would carry her, and try to soothe her by 
promising her plenty of milk and good victuals when they should reach 
Chemung, which he afterwards fulfilled, but Thomas Hill would try to thwart 
the child, and show her her little brother's scalp, and almost set her distract- 
ed. This was not approved by the Indians. 

"At Tioga Point they rested. Here all the loads that had been carried 
on their backs were put into canoes and consigned to J. Hillborn to conduct 
to Chemung. When they reached the latter place, according to the Indian 
custom, all the prisoners must run the gauntlet, that is, all the Indians, young 
and old. stand in two rows with switches, and the prisoner must run between 
them — the Indians paying on according to their discretion. When J. Hill- 
born's turn came to run, he had suffered so much by assisting the others on 
the journey, his feet were so sore (as he had no shoes) he could not run. 
The Mohawk, seeing this, told him to sit down, and he would run for him. 
The Indians paid it on him more severely than on any of the others, but he 
prided himself on bearing it all with heroic bravery, without flinching. 
After the gauntlet, the Indians treated all the prisoners, as to provisions, as 
well as they lived themselves, and their business was to hoe corn. 

" The Indians soon after held a council upon another war expedition. The 
Mohawk informed Hillborn that it was to be on the West Branch of the 
Susquehanna, and that John Montour was to be their captain. Hillborn was 
alarmed, as he feared that a defeat would make worse times for the prisoners, 
at this time treated well ; and as he felt himself somewhat recruited, he 
formed a plan for his escape. 

" A division of the American army was then at Wyoming ; this he knew, 
for he had heard the morning and evening gun on their journey. The Indians 
had several good running canoes, and Hillborn resolved to take the best, 
while the Indians were asleep, and go down to Wyoming. As he was a good 
waterman, he had no doubt of getting far enough in advance before the dis- 
covery of the flight, to elude all pursuit. One consideration restrained him 
— would such conduct be right? He concluded to continue a few days 
longer, and consider its propriety. In the first place, he had solemnly en- 
gaged, to save his life, that he would never run away, and the Indians had 
placed full confidence in his promise; but then, it was extorted by fear. 
Secondly, should he, professing to be a Christian, set a bad example — what 
would be the sad consequence of such a deviation to his fellow-prisoners, or 
others hereafter, under similar circumstances ? This seriously claimed his 
reflection, and he found the most real peace and inward comfort of mind — 
come life or death — to strictly adhere to the solemn promise he had made ; 
and found sweeter sleep by a full resignation to his fate, than in any flatter- 
ing prospect of success in an attempt to escape. When Col. Brandt was 
sent to Chemung, in anticipation of Sullivan's expedition and attack, of 
which the British had warning, the little Mohawk advised Hillborn to plead 
his cause before him. This he did as well as he could, saying he was a Qua- 
ker, and that it was against his principles to fight. Brandt pretended to be- 
lieve him, but replied, ' You are a prisoner to the Delaware tribe, I am a 
Mohawk, I have not the authority.' The next morning he was ordered to be 
prepared to march to the fortress at Niagara. He had no shoes nor cloth- 
ing, except such as he was captured in. His greatest suffering was while 
marching barefooted forty-five miles on the beach of Seneca Lake, from which 
one of his feet never recovered. 

" At Niagara, the Indians were paid their bounty on him as a prisoner ; he 
was then ordered to Quebec, which he reached by sloop and batteau, just 
two months after his capture. As he was a prisoner, he was to be sold to 



94 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the highest bidder, to refund the bounty paid the Indians. His almost uaked 
and reduced situation, when exposed to sale, was truly deplorable ; to use 
his own words, ' My appearance was not merchantable.' Fortunately, he fell 
into the hands of a veteran colonel, who had been aid to General Wolfe. 
This gentleman, pitying his forlorn situation, advanced money to clothe him 
comfortably, and, upon learning he was acquainted with the management of 
a gristmill, employed him in a very handsome one of his own. There Hill- 
born behaved so well, that in a short time, he was entrusted with the exclu- 
sive management of the mill, and his situation was made very comfortable. 
However, he became very impatient to retui'n home, and the second winter 
of his residence with the worthy colonel, he asked permission to return, when 
the spring should open, to his country, to meet once more his relatives. The 
eolonel appeared to hear his request with deep concern, and offered him 
high wages, if he would consent to remain and attend to the mill. But 
nothing could induce him to stay. As soon as the navigation opened, he 
settled for the redemption or purchase-money, and all that had been advanced 
him for clothing and necessaries, and his master allowed him such wages as 
he pleased, for as a bought servant, Hillborn made no charge. His master 
made out that there were nine pounds sterling due to him, for which he paid 
him ten guineas and his passage to New York, and they parted in the best 
friendship. He had paid for his freedom by honest labor, and for the first 
time since his capture, had money in his pocket. After putting to sea, all 
went well until the captain, speaking a vessel, was informed that a French 
fleet was on the coast, capturing every British sail ; and then he gave over 
his voyage to New York, and put into Halifax. Here J. Hillborn suffered 
many hardships, in consequence of the scarcity of provisions, and his money 
soon went, and he was again reduced to extreme distress. At length the 
commander of the garrison, in order to get rid of some hungry mouths, per- 
mitted Hillborn and some Yankees to take an old sloop, and endeavor to 
find their way to New York. After meeting with much rough weather and 
great hardships, they at length arrived at Sandy Hook, where Hillborn re- 
minded the master of the vessel of a promise to put him on shore in Jersey. 

" The war was not yet ended, and as he traveled through New Jersey, his 
very distressed appearance rendered him an object of pity and attention from 
those hospitable people. As he had been starved, he ate sparingly, and 
found he gained strength. As he approached the Delaware, he learned that 
all the ferries were guarded, so that none could cross. It was midsummer, 
and the water was low, and he well knew the best fords, so that by wading 
and swimming, he was able to reach the Pennsylvania shore, and a house in 
Upper Makefield, where he found his venerable father, a brother and a sister. 
From his very emaciated condition and distressed appearance, none knew 
him, and he was necessitated to tell them who he was. Such a scene as fol- 
lowed is easier conceived than expressed. It was then two years and some 
days since he was captured, in all which time they had never heard whether 
he was dead or alive. 

" The writer of the above narrative adds, that J. Hillborn communicated the 
facts to him 16th Juue, 1787, in sight of the scene of his capture, and states, 
that J. Hillborn was the first prisoner that returned from Canada, and per- 
haps the only one that paid for his freedom. After the peace, they were 
discharged, and all his fellow-prisoners returned, except one, who died at 
Niagara. 

" Since John Hillborn lived in Harmony, that noted Thomas Hill stopped 
there to stay all night. Hillborn knew him and treated him well, but he did 
not know Hillborn. In the morning, he asked, 'What is to pay?' John 
Hillborn replied, 'It is not my practice to charge an old acquaintance,' upon 
which Hill started, and asked, ' What acquaintance ?' J. Hillborn said, 
'Thomas Hill, has thee forgot our journey from Brodhead's Creek to Che- 
mung?' — and said no more." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 95 

The sons of John Hilborn were, John, William, and Jesse. 
His daughters — Hannah (Mrs. Warren Bird, now dead), and 
Polly (Mary) now Mrs. Robert McKune of Harmony. 

Joseph, brother of John Hilborn, came in 1791, and (his wife 
being dead) resided with him. 

James Westfall came from Sussex County, New Jersey, in 
1794 or 1795, and settled about one and a half miles above the 
mouth of the Canawacta, on the east side of the Susquehanna, 
on the upper end of what was afterwards known as the Picker- 
ing farm. His son Levi was born here in 1797. About 1800, 
he removed to the farm of William Smith on the west side, 
where Levi Westfall 1 now lives. 

In 1800, Col. Timothy Pickering, once Secretary of State 
under Washington, came to Susquehanna County to look after 
lands he had purchased. He found located upon them the fami- 
lies of Comstock, Smith, and Westfall, whose titles not being 
obtained from him caused their removal. Timothy Pickering, 
Jr., an only son, at his father's request, reluctantly consented to 
locate on the flat vacated by Abner Comstock, and came on 
from Boston, and built the first framed house in Harmony; but 
he was sadly homesick, and being deprived of the society to 
which he was accustomed, he married a respectable young 
woman of the backwoods — a sister of the wife of Elder Nathaniel 
Lewis, the pioneer Methodist, of what is now Oakland. This 
step is said to have been a great disappointment to Col. P., 
whose ambition would have chosen for his son a bride from 
courtly circles. He died in 1807 in his twenty-eighth year, and 
his remains now rest in the cemetery near the railroad, opposite 
his own house. His father afterwards so far overcame his pre- 
judices as to come to Harmony and take the widow and his 
two grandchildren to his own home, then near Boston, Mass. 

John Comfort came in 1808, and bought the house and farm 
of T. Pickering, Jr., and returned to the East. In 1809 he came 
to settle, only removing after about ten years, half a mile above 
the present viaduct. He built a saw-mill prior to 1812, near 
the site of the present mill of Charles Lyons ; the first one it is 
averred in the township. He was a justice of the peace for some 
years, and so honest a man, that one to whom he had given a 
promissory note returned it to him for safe keeping. 

His sons were James, Silas, and George. The last-named is 
now a missionary to the Omahas in Montana. Silas was a pre- 
siding elder of the Methodist church in Missouri nearly forty 
years ago ; but was dismissed because he received " nigger tes- 
timony." He died April 5, 1850, in his seventy-fourth year. 

1 Since deceased. 



96 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Adam Swagart, a brother-in-law of John Comfort, came to 
the settlement two or three years after the latter. 

Joseph McKune, Sr., came to Harmony about 1810, locating 
on the east side of the river, but in 1832 removed to Oakland. 
His son Kobert married Mary Hilborn in 1817, and then went 
to Orange County, New York, where he resided several years 
before returning to Harmony. Upon the death of John Hil- 
born, Mr. McKune and family occupied his house, and continued 
to reside in it for thirty-five years. Eobert McK. was killed 
while walking on the railroad track, March 4th, 1861. 

The perils of travel on former roads is illustrated by an inci- 
dent told by David Lyons, now of Lanesboro ; but who, in 1815, 
resided with his father at Great Bend. Mr. William Drinker 
had come on, at that time, to look at lands for which he was 
agent, and young Lyons undertook to get him and his trunk 
through to Harmony, from Great Bend. After traveling about 
six miles in the wagon, they were obliged to remove the fore 
wheels, and strap the trunk to the hind ones ; then jumping the 
horse over the logs plentifully scattered in the path,, and lifting 
the wheels, the journey was made to a point opposite Mr. Hil- 
born's. Here they put two canoes together, covering them with 
plank, and on this frail convej^ance, horse, trunk, the boy, and 
Mr. Drinker, passed over the river in safety. 

In 1818, Martin Lane came to Harmony, and bought of John 
Comfort the Pickering homestead. In early times, there were 
seven Indian apple trees on this farm. Within a few years 
arrow-heads have been found here, and clay pipes have been 
washed out of the banks by freshets in the river. 

Martin L. died in 1825, aged forty-seven. His son Jesse 
was appointed justice of the peace for Harmony the same year. 
He now resides in Wilmington, Delaware, and all the Lane 
family are gone. 

For a long time after Mr. Lane located here, the place was 
known as Lanesville; but in 1829 it was changed to Lanesboro. 
It is three miles from the north line of the State, and was the 
central point of old Harmony. 

As early as 1820, James Newman and Josiah Benedict lived 
a few miles up the Starucca. 

Joel Salsbury then lived near the State line above the falls 
of Pig-pen Creek. These falls are fifteen feet high, and a more 
classic name would befit their beauty. 

The number of taxables in Harmony (including Oakland) in 
1820, when David Hale was tax-collector, was twenty-eight; 
the year previous but twenty-five; and the amount of his du- 
plicate, as per receipt but $51.89, at five mills on the dollar of 
valuation. For several years in succession, previous to this 
time, Jesse, oldest son of Isaac Hale, was collector. In 1819, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 97 

one man's tax was but six cents, another's seven, and another's 
eight cents. The heaviest tax-payers were John Hilborn and * 
Martin Lane, but even they paid less than nine dollars. Still, mea- 
ger as such sums seem beside those now demanded of property- 
holders, there was not wanting, at least a few years later, plenty 
of grumbling, as is witnessed by a political document forwarded 
by Mr. Hale, which was circulated for campaign effect, and in 
which is the following : " Year after year thousands of dol- 
lars are wrung from the pockets of our citizens in the shape 
of taxes, and what have we obtained in return ? Nothing, com- 
paratively speaking, nothing !" But all this was expected to 
be rectified, if the candidates then offered, viz., Horace Willis- 
ton, Esq., for Congress, and William Jessup for Eepresentative, 
could be elected. Alas! they were defeated. 

On the old Harmony road about one and a half or two miles 
from Lane's, Oliver Harper was murdered by Jason Treadwell, 
May 11, 1824. Travelers are still shown the poplar tree near 
the fatal spot, on which the initials " O. H," are rudely carved ; 
also, " Pot-rock," etc. 

John Eogers located Sept. 1825, on an elevated spot just 
south of the river road, near where it turns abruptly north, and 
west of the Canawacta ; and still occupies the same farm, a part 
of the old Wharton tract. 

In 1825, David Lyons occupied a house four miles up the 
Canawacta, which was the only one between the mouth of the 
creek and Collins Gelatt's, seven miles south. 

Joseph Austin soon after located near Mr. Lyons. The latter 
is now on a part of the old Lane farm. 

Lane's Mills, rebuilt in part, are now run by Blias Youngs 
and H. Perrine. 

The first public movement towards the erection of a bridge 
across the Susquehanna at Lanesboro was made in the summer 
of 1836. It was built in 1837, and was destroyed by a freshet. 

As late as 1846, the town consisted of but one hotel, the 
mills, one store, and a cluster of houses; but during the con- 
struction of the great works of the Brie Eailroad at this point, 
it became quite a business place. From the time of the com- 
pletion of that road, which passes over the Canawacta bridge 
above the houses of Lanesboro, its business has been in part 
transferred to the depot one mile south of it. Twenty-five years 
ago, the vicinity of Lanesboro, and especially that of Cascade 
Creek, was a favorite resort for parties of pleasure. Its trout 
were unsurpassed, and its falls a charming feature of otherwise 
picturesque scenery. 

The traveler does not now find the locality as attractive as 
formerly. The practical demands of the age have invaded its 
seclusion, cut down the tangled wildwood, thrown an embank- 
7 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 




merit across the stream near the foot of the falls, and in a great 
measure filled the basin into which the creek pours in a double 
stream, so parted as to fall at nearly a right angle. The cascade 
seems to have lost in height and in volume. Through the 

rocks and stones underlying 
Fig. 12. the embankment, the creek 

still finds its way, except in 
seasons of high water, when 
its current is turned aside 
through a tunnel excavated 
16J feet wide through solid 
rock. Prior to the construc- 
tion of the embankment, the 
New York and Erie Eailroad 
company spanned the stream 
with a single wooden arch, 
276 feet in length and 184 feet 
in height. Fears of its relia- 
bility induced the company to 
sacrifice the beautiful struc- 
ture, the original cost of which 
was about $160,000, and fill up 
the entire space beneath, at 
an expense of about $275,000, 
taking ten years to accomplish 
it. A view of the old bridge is 
here given. Near the mouth of the Starucca, the same company 
constructed a work of vaster proportions, and more massive 
magnificence. The railroad track is laid upon 18 arches sup- 
ported upon 19 piers of solid masonry, 110 feet in height, and 

extending across the stream 

■^'p - • and valley a distance of 

1200 feet. 

The " false-work" of each 
of the arches cost $1600, and 
to remove it cost $100 more. 
The entire cost of the via- 
duct was about $325,000. It 
was built in two and a half 
years. 

The cranberry marsh of 
Messrs. Miller, Morton, Em- 
ory, and Eowley, is a recent 
enterprise near the cascade. 
The manufactory of tur- 
bine water-wheels, mill and tannery gearing, etc.. of Messrs. A. 
& S. H. Barnes & Company is at Lanesboro. Also, the manu- 



THE CASCADE BRIDGE. 






■■.■";" 




THE STARUCCA VIADUCT. 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 99 

factory of an excellent wagon-jack, on an extensive scale, by C. 
S. B.ennet & Co. 

There is a German settlement in what was once called East 
Harmony, where, October, 1869, a post-office was established, 
called Harmony Center, H. W. Brandt, P. M. (In 1872, a depot 
of the Jefferson Eailroad.) Something of its enterprise in 
March, 1871, may be seen from the following article from the 
'Montrose Eepublican:' — 

" Up the Starucca Creek. — Those who have never had the privilege or em- 
braced the opportunity of visiting this section of the county, to look upon the 
wild scenery, the rough, rugged, sharp-pointed rocks, the alpine mountains, 
the deep gorges, and the general uneven surface, may be interested in a brief 
description of the observations of a newspaper correspondent on the occasion 
of a carriage ride of five miles up that remarkable creek. Half a mile above 
the village of Lanesboro we came to the small wooden bridge across the river 
leading up the river to Windsor. Turning a short angle at this point, we 
passed up the creek under the broad high arch of the Starucca viaduct of 
the Erie Railway. 

"As we move along and enter the valley, with vast mountains on either side 
of us, we come to Brandt & Schlager's tannery, 1 forty feet above the viaduct ; 
and if we were to judge of the amount of business done by the abundance of 
hemlock bark banked up in such perfect order, it must be enormous. There 
are several dwelling-houses for the accommodation of employes, and one store, 
connected with which is a beautiful residence, partly in the rear of the store, 
at some little distance from the road. At our right, far above us on the hill- 
side, is the Jefferson Railroad, recently built for the purpose of transporting 
coal from Carbondale. A little further on, we come to the line of the new 
railroad to Nineveh, connecting the Jefferson and Albany roads. The grad- 
ing across the valley has already commenced — indicated by high gravel 
banks. 

" We are now crossing the Starucca nearly a mile above, on a good sub- 
stantial bridge 150 feet in length, and our attention being drawn to the oppo- 
site side of the creek, we see a few laborers at work on the new road as it 
runs along the mountain fifty feet directly beneath the Jefferson. One mile 
above this point is the junction; a short distance below, the extensive chair 
factory of Messrs. Fromer & Schlager. Here we find a short turn in the 
road, and soon come to the old tannery of Messrs. Brandt & Schlager. This 
firm have been doing a heavy business in this line of trade for the last fifteen 
years ; in fact they are the pioneers in what is now known as Harmony Center, 
and one of the most romantic and wonder-loving spots imaginable ; and cer- 
tainly the artist who has never visited this wild wilderness place, with its high 
forest-covered mountains, sharp-pointed hills, deep gorges, mossy rocks, bright 
sparkling water, waterfalls, and the ten-acre valley, must assuredly have 
never heard there was such a place. Quite a little village has grown up in 
the vicinity of the tannery, several elegant dwellings, and a model school- 
house, with its bell and appropriate adornments. Half a mile farther up the 
creek, near the old stone quarry which furnished stone for the viaduct, is the 
acid factory of Curtis, Miller & Co. This has been in operation several 
years, and has the appearance of doing a paying business. Several hands 
find employment Hard wood only is used in the manufacture of this acid or 
coloring material, large quantities of which are made use of in the manu- 
facture of calicoes. The acid is a hard, dry, brittle, dark-colored substance, 
and is sent to market in large coarse sacks — Messrs. Gauts & Co., New York 

1 Since destroyed by fire. 



100 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

commission merchants, receive all they manufacture. In the process of 
manufacturing, forty-eight cords of wood are consumed every week. The 
combustible portion of the wood is not destroyed, and large quantities of 
charcoal are produced as a residuum." 

The village of Starucca lies in the narrow valley through 
which the stream of the same name runs, but is situated just 
beyond the limits of Susquehanna, in Wayne County. The 
Jefferson Railroad in following the wide sweep of this winding 
creek, passes near the village, to which it has given new life 
and impetus. The station is in Susquehanna County. 

The construction of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna Rail- 
road has increased business at Lanesboro. A foundry is in 
active operation. Some years ago a yacht was built here for 
carrying passengers to and from Windsor, but navigation of the 
river was found impracticable. 

A fine buck was shot five miles up the Starucca Creek, in 
November, 1871. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OAKLAND. 



The settlement of the last township of Susquehanna County 
was nearly coeval with that of the first, of which, in fact, it 
formed a part until the erection of Harmony. It was separated 
from the latter, December, 1853. 

Oakland is six and one-half miles in extent, north and south, 
by two miles on the State line, and nearly three miles on the 
line of Jackson. The eastern boundary is formed by the Sus- 
quehanna River, and the Lenox and Harmony turnpike just 
east of Drinker's Creek. 

Full one-half of the township is covered by the Oquago 
Mountain, which on the south and east slopes nearly to the 
river, though, in places, the valley widens, and reveals most 
inviting flats, rich in soil and culture. The tributaries to the 
Susquehanna are Drinker's Creek, and "3d Run," 1 on the south 
side, and Flat Brook, Bear Creek, 2 and two or three nameless 
small streams on the north and west sides. 

The fall in the river below Lanesboro is so rapid, that the 
water seldom freezes over entirely ; and the immense volume 
which here breaks through the northern spur of the Alleghany 

1 So marked by early surveyors, by whom the Canawacta was called the 1st 
Run, Drinker's Creek the 2d, and John Travis' Brook the 3d. 

2 So named from early encounters of settlers with bears near it. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 101 

Mountains furnishes almost unrivalled privileges for manufac- 
turing establishments. The river crosses the township from 
east to west, and the traveler can follow its course six miles 
within the township limits. 

Half a dozen islands clot the stream within a distance of three 
miles. What is called the Upper Island is near the mouth of 
Bear Creek. Gulf Island is just below the passenger bridge 
connecting the borough of Susquehanna Depot with Oakland 
village ; and Lovers' Island, the favorite resort of young people, 
is at the crossing of the railroad bridge below. 

Gulf Island was so named because it is situated near the 
mouth of the Canawacta, which enters the Susquehanna river 
through a deep gully. 

There are no lakes in the township. 

The name is derived from the forests of oak north of the 
river. Pine is also found there; but, south of the river, the 
timber is principally hemlock, maple, beech, and hickory. Old 
settlers mention hemlock-spruce; such a graft not being un- 
common. 

Turkey Hill is the elevation south of where the river begins 
to turn northward around the base of Oquago Mountain. 

A stone-quarry, of some prospective value, has been recently 
opened near Drinker's Creek. 

Ichabod Swamp, about four miles north of Susquehanna 
Depot, near the State line, is a locality once of some note as " a 
dreadful swamp, thick with hemlock and laurel, and full of 
paths of wild animals — bears, wolves, and panthers." It takes 
its name from the fact that here Captain Ichabod Buck was 
once lost, but fought his way out to the river with only a jack- 
knife for a weapon. 

A natural cranberry marsh is found about a mile north of 
Susquehanna Depot. Bear Creek is its outlet. The marsh is 
indicated on a survey made in 1785. It is said that the Indians 
found lead here. 

Prior to 1788 there was not a house in Oakland, but this date 
marks the arrival of Jonathan Bennet, who stopped here for a 
short time before settling two miles below Great Bend. 

In 1791 William Smith, sometimes called " Governor" Smith, 
was located on the flat now owned and occupied by Levi West- 
fall,' whose father, James, about 1800, bought whatever title 
to it Mr. Smith held. It is said the latter had obtained it of 
Moses Comstock, his father-in-law, who then lived on the east 
side of the river, exactly opposite. On the west side the flat is 
inclosed in the sharp angle formed by the river, which here 

* Since deceased. 



102 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

turns abruptly to the west, making in fact the great bend, which 
name, strangely enough, has been given to the point in the 
township where the river turns northward at a less-marked 
angle. The spot is one of the few localities in our county where 
indisputable evidences have been found of its preoccupation by 
the Indians. On the draft of a survey made by a Pennsylvania 
agent in 1785, six small wigwams are marked at the point of 
land just below the western abutment of the old bridge, to 
designate an old town of the Tuscaroras. Here were found by 
Mr. Westfall the poles of the wigwams and several pits con- 
taining charred corn and an immense quantity of clippings, 
showing that arrow-heads were manufactured here on a large 
scale. 

William Smith had two sons, Arba and William. All removed 
to Cincinnati, Cortland County, N. Y. William Greek located 
very early on the south side of the river, at the mouth of 
Drinker's Creek. He sold his improvements some years later 
to Marmaduke Salsbury, who married Clarissa, daughter of 
William Smith, and after her death married her sister Lydia 
(the widow Rouse). They had a large family. 

John Stid also settled very early on the river in front of what 
is now known as Shutts' place, and just below the point where 
the railroad reaches the northern bank. Right opposite, at the 
mouth of the Third Run, John Travis was located. He claimed 
the island just below Lovers' Island, and his older brother, 
Ezekiel, the whole of what has since been the Joseph McKune 
farm. 

When the Pennsylvania landholders looked after their in- 
terests here, some of the earliest settlers disappeared, and titles 
to land procured from them were found defective, necessitating 
a repurchase by those who remained. 

Isaac Hale and Nathaniel Lewis lived near each other, on the 
north side of the river, as early as 1791. Afterwards, Mr. 
L. bought a place on the south side, and resided there for many 
years. The one he vacated was purchased by Samuel Tread- 
well. It is now owned by L. P. Hinds, Esq. Here Jason, 
youngest son of Samuel Treadwell, afterwards hung on con- 
viction of the murder of Oliver Harper, lived until his marriage, 
when he moved into Great Bend Township. The father, prior 
to residing here, had been located ten or twelve years opposite 
Red Rock. 

Isaac Hale was born March 21, 1763, in Waterbury, Conn. 
When a boy he was taken by his grandfather to Vermont. He 
stayed there through the Revolutionary War. After having 
worked one summer in Connecticut, he concluded to try "the 
West." At Ouaquago (now Windsor, N. Y.), he found Major 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 103 

Daniel Buck, afterwards "Priest" Buck, with whom he boarded. 
His son David 1 says: — 

" He was to furnish the meat, and the major the breadstuff — frost-bitten 
corn — to be pounded in a mortar, as there were then no mills in the country. 
The first day he went into the woods, he brought home a deer. They shortly 
afterward moved down the river to the Great Bend, which, as near as I can 
make out (there is no infallibility in the traditions of the elders), was in the 
fall of 1787, or thereabout. 

"After exploring the country, and getting acquainted with the oldest set- 
tlers, viz., Moses Comstock Jonathan Bennett, Deacon Jedediah Adams, 
etc.. he went back to Vermont, and married Elizabeth Lewis, sister of 
Nathaniel Lewis, who married about the same time Sarah Cole, whose sister, 
Lorana Cole, afterwards married Timothy Pickering, Jr. 

" Well, now for the emigrant train, Isaac Hale and Nathaniel Lewis, with 
their wives Elizabeth and Sarah. Nathaniel Lewis had a yoke of steers and 
a cart, on which to carry all their plunder (baggage), a distance of about 
two hundred and twenty miles from Wells, Rutland County, Vt., to Willing- 
borough, 2 Luzerne County, Pa. After writing those long names, please let 
me make a digression. Two hundred and twenty miles — a short distance in 
the present time — not so then — a small company, but void of fear. They had 
heard Ethan Allen swear, and so were not afraid of bears. They went 
through to Pennsylvania, as near as I can make it, in 1790. 

"Isaac Hale bought an improvement of Jonathan Bennett. The land he 
afterward bought of Robert H. Rose, the same place on which I was raised, 
and on which he lived when I left my native place, and where he was 
buried." 

This place is now occupied by James M. Tillman, in Oak- 
land. 

In the summer of 1793, Isaac Hale was one of the viewers 
of the first roads laid out in Willingborough. He was a great 
hunter, and made his living principally by procuring game. 
His sons, also, were hunters. His wife was for fifty years a 
consistent member of the Methodist church. A lady now liv- 
ing at Lanesboro, who knew her well, says: "I never visited 
her but I thought I had learned something useful." Her death 
occurred in 1842, in her seventy-fifth year. Their daughter, 
Emma, was intelligent, and, that she should marry Joseph 
Smith, Jr., the Mormon leader, can only be accounted for by 
supposing "he had bewitched her," as he afterward bewitched 
the masses. 

It is thought that Mr. Hale was a little deluded at first, as 
well as others, in regard to Joe's prophecy of the existence of 
precious minerals, when digging was progressing in the vicinity, 
under the latter's direction, and the party were boarding at 
Mr. Hale's, but his common sense soon manifested itself, and 
his disapproval of Joe was notorious. He was a man of fore- 
thought and generosity. He would kill the elk, up the Star- 

' David Hale, of Amboy, Illinois. 

2 This locality was not then known by this name on the court records. It 
was in Tioga Township until the following year. 



104 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ucca, in the fall, when it was the fattest; make troughs of birch 
or maple, to hold it when cut up; carry salt on his back, salt 
the meat, and cover it with bark, held down with heavy stones, 
and then leave it until the snow came, when he could easily 
bring it down. The fruit of his labor was sometimes exchanged 
for assistance on his farm, but perhaps as often found its way, 
unheralded, to the tables of others, when the occupants of the 
house were out of sight ; and to them the gift seemed almost 
miraculous. 

For many years there stood at Mr. Hale's door a stump-mor- 
tar and heavy wooden pestle, worked by a spring pole, and his 
boys were obliged to leave work an hour or two before dark, 
to grind out meal enough for mush for their supper. The hand- 
mill afterwards took the place of the mortar and pestle, and 
could grind half a bushel in a day — a great improvement. 

His sons were : Jesse, David, Alvah, Isaac Ward, and Eeuben. 
The last named "assisted Joe Smith to fix up some characters 
such as Smith pretended were engraven on his book of plates." 
To David Hale, however, "it always appeared like humbug." 

Jesse and David were drafted in 1814, and marched in Cap- 
tain Frederick Bailey's company to Danville. 

The following statements are also from the pen of David 
Hale :— 

"Brother Jesse Hale was a man of business, fifty years ago. His height 
was six feet in his moccasins, and his common weight one hundred and eighty 
pounds. He had learned lo hunt panthers with our father, Isaac Hale. 

"At one time he was following a panther through a thicket of laurels, 
when the dog sprang over a log into a nest of young panthers. The dog 
seized one ; one run to brother Jesse, who caught it in his hands ; it was 
about the size of a common house-cat. He could have tied it fast, but he 
thought ' If the old one hears this fuss, she'll soon be here !' so he whipped 
it against a beech sapling, and helped the dog to dispatch his ; then hunted 
up the other, which was not far off, and killed it. 

" The old one did not come, so he stuffed the three young ones into his 
pack, and went to the camp. The next day he returned, and found the old 
panther had been back, and, not finding her young ones, had put off, so he 
started after her. In the course of the day, he came up with and killed her, 
and packed her to camp. 

"After that, he came across two more that he took in the same way ; and 
these, with one wolf and about twenty deer, made out his winter's hunt, fifty- 
five years ago. 

"Jesse Hale raised a large family, viz., six sons and four daughters. He 
had three sons killed by rebels. They were the younger three, viz., Captain 
Joab T., who fell at Fort Donelson ; Sergeant Frank, who fell at Corinth ; 
and Captain Robert, who fell at Manietta, Georgia. 

" His sons, now living, are Silas, Julius, and Charles, all men of property." 

From Dr. Peck's 'Early Methodism' we obtain the follow- 
ing:— 

"Joe Smith married a niece of Nathaniel Lewis. This same 'Uncle Nat. 
Lewis' was a most useful local preacher. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop 
Asbury, in 1807. After the story of the Golden Bible, and the miracle- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 105 

working spectacles had come out, Joe undertook to make a convert of Uncle 
Nat. The old gentleman heard his tale with due gravity, and then proceeded : 

" ' Joseph, can anybody else translate strange languages by the help of them 
spectacles ?' 

" ' 0, yes !' was the answer. 

" ' Well now,' said Mr Lewis, ' I've got Clarke's Commentary, and it contains 
a great many strange languages ; now if you will let me try the spectacles, 
and if, by looking through them, I can translate these strange languages into 
English, then I'll be one of your disciples.' 

" This was a poser, and Joe had to run." 

Selah Payne was a school teacher here, early in the century. 
He had been a student in the first school at Ouaquago, and was 
ambitious to fit himself for teaching. He afterwards became a 
Methodist preacher, and, it is said, a chaplain to General Jack- 
son during the southern campaign of the war of 1812. He was 
an eccentric man, but had considerable ability. On a large tract 
of land (540 acres) which he purchased near Ichabod Swamp, he 
designed a kind of African college; but, after laying the foun- 
dation, 1 the enterprise was abandoned for want of funds, and Mr. 
Payne left the place. The tract passed through several hands, 
and all the timber was cut down and shipped off. Within a 
few years Mr. P. returned, and was killed by being ran over 
by a train of cars near Susquehanna Depot. His wife was a 
daughter of Judge McAllister. 

Joseph McKune, Sr., came in 1810 to the place first occupied 
by Ezekiel Travis, near the burying ground. He died about 
1851. Joseph McKune, Jr., located on the Belmont turnpike 
in 1825, but in 1832 came to the place previously occupied by 
his father in Oakland, and died here in 1861. It was on this 
farm that Joe Smith translated the Mormon Bible. It is now 
occupied by B. F. McKune, son of Joseph, Jr. 

The sons of Joseph McK., Sen., were Robert, Joshua, Joseph, 
Charles, William, Hezekiah (now in Illinois and the only son 
living), John, and Fowler. He had five daughters. 

Dr. Israel Skinner and his twin-brother Jacob, came in 1814 
to the farms adjoining or lying on the line between Great Bend 
and the present township of Oakland (then Harmony).. Dr. S. 
is remembered as the author of a 'History of the American 
Revolution in Verse.' 

Jonathan Brush came in 1819 ; and his brother Ard, in 1820. 

Arc! was accompanied by his son Samuel, who is still living 
on the homestead, near the line of Jackson. At a recent gather- 
ing there of his friends, among whom were old settlers and pio- 
neers of the vicinity, he exhibited "a stuffed panther skin that 
looked enough like life to frighten even dogs." It is said he 
"never looked amiss along his rifle-barrel, and never had an 

1 This is incorrectly marked on the new atlas, as "Foundation of the first 
Mormon Temple." 



106 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

unsteady hand. The skin exhibited measured fully nine feet 
from head to tail." 

Jairus Lamb, one of the first three pioneers of Jackson town- 
ship, has been for several years a resident of Oakland. His 
wife, Mrs. Betsey Lamb, during the four years prior to her 80th 
birthday, wove sixteen hundred yards of cloth, besides attending 
to the duties of her .household. On her 80th birthday, which 
was celebrated by her children at the residence of C. W. Lamb, 
Esq., she wove four yards of plaid flannel. During the month 
closing July 8, 1869, she cut and sewed the rags, doubled and 
twisted the warp, and wove twenty-three yards of carpeting. 
In her 82d year, she wove two hundred yards. 

If, with her day and generation, the necessity for such labor 
passes away, one can never cease to admire the industry and 
patience exhibited in their achievements. 

SUSQUEHANNA DEPOT. 

This borough was incorporated August, 1853. It is an out- 
growth of the Erie Railroad, the ground for which was broken 
here in 1846. 

The first clearing was made by William Greek, late in the last 
century, and his improvements passed to M. Salsbury, as pre- 
viously stated. But the only legal title to the land was then 
held by Henry Drinker of Philadelphia. It was purchased by 
him from the Commonwealth, Dec. 1791, and from his executors, 
by John Hilborn, January, 1810, and from the latter, two months 
later, by Marmaduke Salsbury, who lived on it about twenty- 
five years. At his death, it passed to his heirs, and eventually 
(June, 1847 — July, 1852) it was sold by one or more of them to 
the New York and Erie Railroad Company. 

From the above tract (118 acres and some perches), styled 
Pleasant Valley on the surveyor's map, sixty-three acres and a 
little over should be deducted as having been conveyed by M. 
Salsbury to J. H. Reynolds, and by him to William B. Stod- 
dard. Possibly that portion of the town including the property 
of the Roman Catholic church should be excluded also, as once 
a part of Wm. P. McKune's land. 

Sedate Griswold, formerly owner of a large tract within the 
borough limits, died here recently. 

" On the site of Susquehanna Depot, one single farmer had 
sufficient work in 1848, the summer through, to guard against 
the encroachments of rattlesnakes that sung in his barn, and 
made music in his hay fields." Twelve years later a population 
of 2000 persons had apparently driven the reptiles from the 
place, but not from its neighborhood, which in 1870 they still 
infest. 




' 




te^t^^d /J . 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 107 

The borough has one street which runs in the valley, follow- 
ing nearly the course of the Susquehanna; the streets parallel 
to it are reached by steep acclivities, or by long staircases be- 
tween the blocks of buildings. It well deserves the title it has 
received — the City of Stairs. It is said that some of the Erie 
employe's go up to dinner two hundred feet above their work. 

For a time after the Erie Eailroacl was finished, the popula- 
tion decreased; but it now gains steadily. Americans, English, 
Irish, and Germans are found numerically as named, with a few 
Italians and Poles. Many of the machinists in the Erie work- 
shops are English. 

James B. Gregg, Master Mechanic of the Erie Railroad shops, is a native 
of Delaware, and is of Quaker parentage. The homestead was in New Castle 
County, near Wilmington. 

He attended the State common schools until he was seventeen years of age, 
at which time he persuaded his father to permit him to learn the machinist 
trade, rather than pursue farming, to which he was brought up. His father 
procured him a position, though reluctantly, in the extensive machine shop 
of Geo. Hodgson, an Englishman, in Wilmington, Del. 

At the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1836. he attended school for 
three years ; one and a half years under the tuition of Jonathan Gause, 
near West Chester, Pa. ; and the same time at the High School of John 
Gummere at Burlington, N. J. These teachers were Quakers; and the schools 
were noted in their day as first-class schools, where young men could procure 
a thorough practical business education, including the languages if desired. 

Mr. Gregg then spent one year in traveling in the Western States, and on 
his return was appointed general Foreman of the Piermont shop, the only 
one then on the New York and Erie Railroad. Here he remained until 1851. 
He was then promoted to the office of Superintendent of Motive Power at 
Susquehanna Depot. 

This place is 195 miles from New York city, and 274 miles from Dunkirk. 

The following is from correspondence of the ' Broome Ee- 
publican,' May, 1859 : — ■ 

" The shops were located here in the summer of 1848. The buildings were 
then few and small. In 1854, they covered five acres, and in 1859, 350 men 
were employed, doing the work for 319 miles of the road. The capital then 
invested in the shop machinery was about $200,000. Sub-shops were sta- 
tioned at Canandaigua, Owego, Hornellsville, and Port Jervis, of all which, 
Mr. Gregg was the superintendent. 

" In the Susquehanna shops, there are sixteen departments of labor ; each 
of which has its foreman, who has, in the performance of his duties, absolute 
control of all that pertains to his branch of business ; subject of course to the 
general foreman of the shop. He is not only required to see that every piece 
of work that leaves his department is perfect in itself, but is held individually 
responsible for the material used in its manufacture. Nor is the foreman 
alone responsible. There are in the several departments what are termed 
' gangs,' over whom presides a subordinate foreman appointed to attend some 
particular job. 

" Admirable system is observed in the general management and discipline 
that prevail throughout the shops. The care of tools is so secured as to insure 
the company from the consequences of any neglect on the part of their em- 
ployes. 



108 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

"In 1856 the steam hammer was introduced into the Susquehanna shops; 
in 1857, there were two hammers only, and the saving, in being able to manu- 
facture their own material, was estimated at $25,000 for one year." 

In response to inquiries respecting later work here, Mr. 
Gregg kindly furnishes the following statements: — 

"I continued to increase our facilities for doing work by erecting additional 
buildings from time to time, as business increased, until it was found, in 
1862, of pressing necessity, and from the great danger of our then wooden 
buildings being destroyed by fire, to construct still larger and more durable 
buildings. 

"At the request of the general superintendent, Mr. Minot, I furnished 
grouud-plans for the construction of such shop buildings as would meet not 
only the then greatly increased wants of the company, but all future contin- 
gencies. These plans were laid before the board of directors, and in due 
time were accepted and adopted. The buildings were commenced in 1863 
and finished in 1865, at a cost of $1,250,000 ; the tools and machinery cost, 
in addition, $500,000. 

"The buildings, covering eight acres, are acknowledged to be the most 
extensive of their kind in this country, and also the most complete in their 
arrangements for economizing labor and facilitating work. This is the tes- 
timony of railroad men from all parts of this country, as also of our visitors 
from England. 

" I made provision in the construction of the buildings, by consent of the 
company, for a library and reading-room ; and this is now an important insti- 
tution, as connected with our shop system of management, for the benefit, of 
the employes. 

"I also made a like provision for a lecture-room, 42 X 60 feet. Both these 
rooms the company, upon my recommendation, very generously fitted up, at 
their own expense, with all necessary furniture, gas fixtures, and steam- 
heating apparatus. 

"The library, which is 'circulating,' contains about 2500 volumes of 
well-selected, miscellaneous works, and is growing at the rate of 400 to 500 
volumes annually. Our subscription for daily, weekly, and monthly reading 
matter, for the supply of the table for daily reading, is about $120 per year. 

" I cannot speak of this library and reading-room in terms of too great 
praise, as an agent in the building up of good citizenship in our community. 
The books are read at about an average of 400 volumes per month by per- 
haps not less than one thousand persons. Each book can be retained four- 
teen days. 

" It is the only library, reading-room, and lecture-hall connected with any 
similar shop or manufactory in the country. 

" The number of men employed varies from 650 to 700, as our wants 
direct. The average amounts of money paid them is about $38,000 per 
month, wages being more than doubled within the last dozen years. 

" I hazard nothing in declaring it as my opinion that no shop or manufac- 
tory of any kind in this country, employing a large body of men, can so 
truthfully boast of the intelligence and high moral worth possessed by the 
employes, as of this shop. Nor can any similar number of workmen boast 
of possessing so large an amount of property or real estate as is actually 
possessed, and in fee simple owned, by the employes of this shop, which is 
not less than $600,000 worth. 

"The company originally owned about 300 acre9 of land, now covered 
by happy, thrifty homes of Susquehanna Depot. Prior to May, 1859, the 
company duly appointed me, by act of the board of directors, etc., their 
agent and attorney for the control and sale of the above property. 

" By being careful to employ none but men of exclusively temperate habits 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 109 

and of good moral character, aside from being good workmen, and by holding 
out to these men encouragement to purchase lots and build houses for them- 
selves, every lot of the 300 acres is now sold and deeded, and, in addition, 
our men have purchased largely of adjoining lands. 

" The number of steam hummers is now increased to six, and with these I 
am now supplying forged work, axles, etc., and all iron work for bridges for 
all parts of the road and its branches. I have also very largely introduced 
the manufacture of cast-iron drilled wheels for engines and cars for the 
whole line of the road, the annual number supplied from this shop averaging 
about 11,000 wheels. In the construction of new locomotives, the rebuilding 
and repairs of old ones, and, indeed, for the care of the road in all particu- 
lars, this shop has now become largely responsible." 

Theodore Springsteen is chief clerk ; John T. Bourne, store- 
keeper; and Robert Wallace, general foreman. Forty-six miles 
of steam pipe heat the Erie shops and depot. 

The Sisters of Charity occupy the building erected by Martin 
Newman, which was once Scoville's hotel. Near this point, the 
traveler coming north on the Lenox and Harmony turnpike, is 
suddenly met by a view of scenery remarkably beautiful. Be- 
fore him is the abrupt bend in the river, and the Ouaquago 
Mountain, with its southern slope skirted with the new and 
flourishing village of Oakland. Lanesboro is at the right, and 
a little beyond, the grand stone bridge or viaduct that spans the 
valley of the Starucca. Its nineteen piers and eighteen arches 
are here distinctly seen, and, stretching still beyond the Sus- 
quehanna, in its due north course to the State line, is its valley 
rich in beauty and in the historical interest that gathers around 
it. The locality has been painted by one of its own residents. 
(See later page.) 

The first four hotels were: J. B. Scoville's, Thomas Carr's, 
Elliot Benson's, and Eobert Nichols' — not one of which was 
kept up as such in 1869. The Starucca House, near the rail- 
road station, and the Canawacta House, had succeeded them, also 
the Hotchkiss House on Church Hill. 

The churches are the Presbyterian, Soman Catholic, Metho- 
dist, Baptist, and Universalist. 

L. P. Hinds was the first lawyer who located in the place; 
John Ward, the first merchant. 

William Stamp, of Susquehanna Depot, is the inventor of a 
new steam-gauge, which is said to be a work of great value. 

At present (1872) a city charter is petitioned for. Susque- 
hanna Depot received from the State $3000 for schools. This 
allowance was made, partly in consideration of the fact that the 
place has no revenue from the Erie Railroad property. 

The graded school building is a large and fine one, the site 
of which was selected with a view to accommodate pupils as to 
distance; but otherwise, it appears unfortunately chosen, on 
account of the lowness of the ground and the proximity of the 
railroad shops. 



110 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

North 1 Susquehanna, or Oakland Village, is connected with 
Susquehanna Depot by a bridge across the Susquehanna Eiver. 
This was first built in the fall of 1855, by a stock company, of 
which Thomas Jackson, M.D., was President, H. C. Godwin, 
Vice-President, and L. P. Hinds, Secretary. They with F. A. 
Ward, Levi Westfall, J. B. Scoville, and AVilliam W. Skinner, 
constituted its managers. The original expense was about 
$4700. This bridge was carried away by a freshet, and the 
half of the expense of the one which takes its place was borne 
by William M. Post. 

In 1852 or 1853, the Van Antwerp and Newbury farms, with 
a part of Elijah Westfall's land, comprising about 400 acres 
lying north of the river, had been purchased by J. B. Scoville 
for Messrs. Jackson and Godwin, who laid out fifty or sixty 
acres in village lots, which they sold to William M. Post in 
1857. 

Prior to 1864, there was only one road in Oakland Village — 
the old Ouaquago turnpike — and but one or two farm houses. 
Five years later, there were three streets between the old turn- 
pike and the river, and three cross-streets of the five laid out 
were open. 

A hotel was built in 1864, near the north end of the bridge, 
by T. T. Munson, which has since been known as Telford's. 
After selling the hotel, Mr. Munson established the first store 
here. 

West of the bridge there is a saw and grist-mill; east of it, a 
sash and blind factory. In 1869, there were about seventy 
buildings in the village. It now (spring 1872) contains over 
one hundred houses, and is steadily growing. A neat school- 
house, with blinds, serves as a place of worship for the Metho- 
dist society. A union Sabbath school begun here 1865, by 
Mrs. William M. Post and Mrs. Cockayne, with eight scholars, 
numbered over one hundred scholars in four years. 

The village is an independent school district. The majority 
of the residents are Brie Eailroad employes. 



CHAPTEE X. 

BROOKLYN. 



When first settled, in 1787, the area of Brooklyn was an 
atom in the vast space allotted to the most northern district of 
Luzerne County, and which, in 1790, was designated as Tioga 

1 Or West, as it is called by the people of Harmony. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. Ill 

township. In 1795 it belonged in part to Nicholson township; 
in 1806 it was wholly in Bridgewater (then still in Luzerne), 
and in that portion of it which, at the second term of court 
after the organization of Susquehanna County, was included 
within the limits of a township then petitioned for, to be called 
Waterford. Of the latter, it was proposed the southeast corner 
should be where the county line crosses Martin's Creek; that 
the creek, for ten miles, should be its eastern border; thence a 
line due west five miles, its northern; thence a line running- 
south to Luzerne County (now Wyoming), the western ; and 
thence east to the place of beginning, the southern. 

This made the northern boundary nearly on a line with that 
of Dimock, as since run; but Waterford as finally granted, 
April, 1814, was twelve miles north and south. This brought 
the northwest corner within two miles of Montrose, and it was 
soon thought expedient to change it, leaving the residents along 
the Meshoppen, as far down as Lindsley's or North Pond, still 
in Bridgewater. 

February, 1823, the court changed the name of the town to 
Hopbottom (that being the name of the post-office, as also of 
the settlement from an early day); for, as there were already 
three Waterfords in the State, it caused derangement of the 
mails. In 1825 a meeting of the citizens was held, and they 
decided to petition the court and the postmaster-general for a 
change of name, both of town and post-office, to Brooklyn, with 
a favorable result. 

In 1846, Brooklyn was reduced nearly one-half, by the erec- 
tion of the township of Lathrop, since which time its limits 
have remained unchanged. 

The Hopbottom Creek, so called from the number of wild 
hops once found growing in its valley, runs through Brooklyn 
from north to south, having its source in Heart Lake, between 
New Milford and Bridgewater, and reaching Martin's creek in 
the northeast corner of Lathrop. 

It is said that " up Martin's Creek a former hunter's range ex- 
tended (as also to the upper branches of the Wyalusingj ; the 
fur of the marten, then abundant, was his chief aim." It is 
probable the creek derived its name from this circumstance, 
and that it is incorrectly called Martin's creek. 

" Dry" Creek is also a tributary to Martin's Creek in certain 
seasons. 

Horton's Creek has its rise in the western part of the town- 
ship, and crosses the southern line about midway ; thence passes 
entirely through Lathrop to join the Tunkhannock below. It 
was once a rival competitor with Martin's Creek for railroad 
honors. 

South Pond (Ely Lake) and the half of North Pond, the latter 



112 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

on the west line of Brooklyn, and the other near it, are the 
only lakes of the township. 

The surface is very uneven. The traveler over the Owego 
turnpike (which enters the township at Oakley's and leaves it 
near its northwest corner) will cross some high hills, and, in 
going over the road from Kingsley's to the Center, will find 
those even higher ; but here is some of the best land. 

SETTLEMENT. 

In 1787, John Nicholson, Comptroller of Pennsylvania, and 
owner of extensive tracts of land throughout the State, attempted 
to colonize his lands along the Hopbottom ; and, in five years, 
collected about forty Irish and German families from Philadel- 
phia, and " down the Susquehanna." He had agreed to supply 
them with provisions, for the first year at least, and that they 
should have the land seven years ; the settlers in the mean time 
to clear what they could, and to build upon each lot a house 
and barn, and at the end of seven years to have the first right 
of purchase at the price the land might then be worth. 

Adam Miller, a Protestant Irishman, though part of his life 
had been spent with a Roman Catholic priest, had married a 
cousin of Nicholson, and both were persuaded by him to come 
to his Hopbottom lands in 1787. At the end of one year they 
became discouraged, and Nicholson, to induce them to stay, 
deeded to Mrs. Miller 175 acres of land. 

Mrs. Miller's maiden name was Elinor Nichaelson, as the 
name was spelled in the old country. Her father was a brother 
of John Nicholson's father, and a Welshman ; her mother was 
an Englishwoman. 

Mrs. Fox, a Dutchwoman among the colonists, once com- 
plained to Mrs. Miller of their fare, when the latter responded: 
" Peggy, we ought to thank the Lord that we have enough 
such as it is." But " Peggy" could not assent, and replied: 
" Do you really believe anybody under the heavens ever 
thanked the Lord for johnny-cake ?" 

The eldest child of Adam Miller is now living (1870) in 
Michigan, in her eighty-fourth year, and she was about one 
year old when her parents came to what is now Brooklyn, and 
was just three years old when her brother William was born 
there, December, 1789. His was the first birth in this county, 
so far as has come to the knowledge of the compiler. 

Elder Charles Miller, for man}' years a minister in Clifford, 
was also born on the Hopbottom, March 20, 1793. His sister 
Anna Maria, now the widow of John Wells, was born there in 
1795, and was in her fifth year when her parents with their 
family went to Ohio. They returned the same season to Tunk- 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 113 

liannock, and, early in the spring of 1800, reached Clifford 
Corners, in the vicinity of which they lived and died. (See 
Cliffokd.) 

Eichard McNamara and Robert Patterson came in 1787. The 
latter is buried in Brooklyn. 

William Conrad (or Coonrod, as then pronounced) was among 
the earliest of Nicholson's colonists. He was one of the Hes 
sians employed by Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. 
All the time he had to prepare for the expedition was less than 
twenty-four hours, and then he left home and country forever. 
He supposed the expedition was designed only to go to Eng- 
land ; but, when there, it was joined by the British fleet and 
sailed for America. The next year he was with Lord Howe at 
Philadelphia. The Hessians were then told, that if they deserted 
to the Yankees, they would be killed and eaten up. Conrad, 
however, made his escape, and the first American officer he met 
gave him a dollar. He soon found inhabitants with whom he 
could converse in his own language, one of whom, Page, ac- 
companied him to this section. Hardships of every kind awaited 
the family of Conrad here. Their first home was under the 
shelter of a hemlock root, where one of his children was born. 
He stayed in Brooklyn long enough to make a small clearing, 
build a log-house, and set out an orchard on the farm afterwards 
owned by Andrew Tracy, Esq., and then removed to Harford, 
where he lived more than forty years, and where he died. A 
son of his is still living in the county, a little east of Hopbottom 
village; and another branch of the family is living at South 
Gibson. 

Little is known of those who came in 1787, with the excep- 
tion of a few persons. Mrs. Wells (mentioned above) states, 
that a physician, whose name was Caperton, accompanied the 
first settlers, and that he, Mr. Fox, and Mr. John Robinson, 
were her father's near neighbors. 

The majority of these known as "the Nicholson settlers" were 
Irish, and their locality was called the Irish Settlement by the 
settlers of Great Bend and " Nine Partners." Nicholson had 
furnished teams, a quantity of "sugar kettles" for boiling sap, 
and erected a log grist-mill (about sixty rods below Whipple's 
present saw-mill), but failed to supply provisions as he had 
agreed ; the families, being left to care for themselves, suffered 
much from want, and not knowing how to manage in the wilder- 
ness, became discouraged, and after a few years abandoned the 
settlement. 

Among the few whose names are connected with the improve- 
ments purchased by the New Englanders, there were, besides 
the settlers already given, another Conrad, Trout, Mclntyre, 
and Denison. 
8 



114 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

John Jones, a well-educated Welshman, came from Northum- 
berland, 1790-2, and became a sort of superintendent of the 
settlement. His family consisted of his wife (formerly Mrs. 
Milbourne), and his stepson, Bloomfield Milbourne, with their 
three daughters, Nancy, Betsy, and Polly. The last-named 
died in 1802. Nancy became the wife of Samuel Howard, a 
later comer, and Betsy, of John C. Sweet, of Harford. 

A son of one of the earliest New England settlers in 
Brooklyn (J. Sabin) narrated the following incident: — 

" 1 remember one time Mr. Jones went to Wilkes-Barre, forty 
miles away ; bought two five-pail kettles, in which to boil 
sap, hung them astride his mare, drove her before him, and 
walked himself. When he had nearly reached home, some 
brush caught in the legs of the kettles, which so frightened the 
beast she ran into the woods and broke them both." 

In 1792 Mark Hartley, of Scotch descent but of Irish birth, 
and then living at Northumberland, was induced by Nicholson 
to join the Hopbottom colony. He was accompanied by his 
wife and two children, Mark and William, the latter only eight 
weeks old, now Esquire Hartley, of Lenox. He remained less 
than five years in the settlement before removing to the vicinity 
of Glenwood. 

From 1792-95 the last of the Nicholson colonists came. 
They were William Harkins, James Coil (to Adam Miller's 
clearing), and Prince Perkins (colored), with his son William, 
and two grandchildren. Prince had been the slave of Captain 

Perkins, of Connecticut (the great-grandfather of C. S. 

Perkins, now of Brooklyn), but as he became a freeholder, and 
spent his life in the township, his history forms a part of it. 
He came from near the mouth of the Tunkhannock, after ac- 
quiring his freedom in Connecticut by the laws of the State. 

Denman Coe and Wright Chamberlain, from Connecticut, 
were on the Hopbottom, in 1795. (See Gibson.) James Coil 
removed after a few years to Clifford. [The location of the 
Nicholson settlers can best be given in connection with that of 
the New Englanders.] 

On the failure of John Nicholson, his lands in the Hop- 
bottom settlement passed into the hands of John B. Wallace, 
of Philadelphia, and from him, in 1818, to Thomas B. Overton, 
then of Wilkes-Barre. A portion of the lands of Brooklyn 
belonged to the Drinker estate. 

The earliest New England settlers came to this section sup- 
posing themselves to have clear titles to land under the " Con- 
necticut Delaware Purchase." Prior to locating on the Hop- 
bottom, Joseph Chapman — a sea-captain, who had made fifty 
voyages to the West Indies — and his son Joseph, from Norwich, 
Ct., had begun an improvement on their purchase in Dimock, or 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 115 

" Chebur," as that town was then named, on Connecticut sur- 
veys. But, as there was no building on their land, the)' pro- 
cured an improvement in the adjacent town of " Dandolo" ; the 
section including the Irish settlement or Nicholson colony, and 
in the fall of the same year (1798) Captain Chapman brought 
his family to the log cabin vacated by John Robinson. He re- 
mained here until the spring of 1800, when with his wife and 
his sons Isaac A. and Edward, and his daughters Elizabeth and 
Lydia, he removed to the house, which he in the mean time 
had built on his place in Chebur. 

The only child of his first wife, Joseph Chapman, Jr., re- 
mained upon the Hopbottom place, but was not then without 
neighbors, from one to three miles away, nor many months with- 
out a companion. 

The incoming of Andrew Tracy can best be given in his own 
words, though fully to understand his position, the reader must 
be informed that he was Secretary and Recorder of the Con- 
necticut Delaware first Company, and that this was the final 
effort of the Connecticut claimants under the Indian Delaware 
Purchase to obtain possession. Captain Peleg Tracy, his eldest 
son, appears to have purchased the first improvements of Messrs. 
Jones and Milbourne, on the present farm of Obadiah and W. 
P. Bailey, as early as his father secured those of William 
Conrad, the place a little north of Brooklyn Center, which is 
now owned by Jared Baker; but he did not come to occupy it 
until two weeks after his father's arrival with his family. 

DIARY OF ANDREW TRACY, Esq. 

"1798, August 21st, I set out from Norwich (Ct.), with my son Edwin 
(Leonard E.) for the Delaware Purchase, and we arrived at Dandolo the 30th 
inst., at Mr. Milbourne's; the 31st at Chebur; 1st Sept. at Mr. Brownson's 
at Rindaw ; where we waited for Mr. E. Hyde till the 11th, and the 12th left 
there and went to view the Manor, etc. a the 14th took possession of C oon- 
rod Castle with the premises. We sowed about four bushels wheat and rye, 
and rolled up a log-house, two logs above the chamber floor ; and on the 11th 
November set off for Norwich. 

"On the 8th January 1799, sent off my team, and on the 11th set out with 
my family for our seat in Dandolo, and got to Peleg's place on the 6th of 
February, after a long and expensive journey of 28 days. We left Peleg's 
house about the 5th of March, and then moved into the castle — it was thir- 
teen feet square — having eleven in the family steady, until the 4th of July, 
and then we moved into the new house to celebrate the day of American 
Independence, and had about 40 persons to dine." 

The foregoing appears to have been written at the same time 
with what follows in the diary down to July 1801. To account in 
part for the large number of " persons to dine," it is here noted, 
that Captain Tracy was married and had three children when 
he settled in Hopbottom ; and that his wife was accompanied 
by her sister Betsey Leffingwell. Capt. Chapman's family 



116 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

were still in Brooklyn. Charles Miner may also have been of 
the party, since he came to this section with Capt Tracy. " Coon- 
rod Castle" then contained three "sets" of children; five were 
the children of Esq. Tracy's first wife, and four were those of 
Mrs. Tracy and her first husband, Amaziah Weston ; while the 
youngest, then an infant (now Mrs. Warner Hayden of New 
Milford), was hers and Esq. Tracy's. On the arrival of the 
Tracy family at Martin's Creek, they were met by Capt. Chap- 
man, who bore her in his arms the remainder of their journey. 
But to return to the diary : — 

"The last winter (1799-1800) was very hard and severe; snow that fell 
during the first week in November lay until May. We had about 12 inches 
of snow on the first of April, and there fell a snow 9 or 10 inches deep, and 
on the 8th, near as much more, and on the 2d of May we had a snow fall so 
as to make the ground look white. The hard winter was followed by a severe 
drought, which was the means of my going to French Town [now in Bradford 
Co.], three times after grain, and once down theTunkhannock, and so up the 
Susquehanna to the Wyalusing. and so home with four bushels wheat and 
rye. On my way home, I got within half a mile of Joseph Chapman's house, 
when it being very dark and rainy, my horse became frightened, and ran into 
the woods ; and I was under the necessity of lying there all night, not having 
so much as an old log or anything but a small beech to screen me from the 
storm, which was incessant all night. As soon as the daylight appeared, I 
found the path, and then proceeded on to Capt. Chapman's where I got half 
an hour before sunrise, not having had any sleep, but very wet and cold. 
After dinner I set out with my load for home. 

"June 6th, 1800, occurred a very great frost that killed corn, beans, pump- 
kins, cucumbers, etc." 

Under date of July 26, 1801, he mentions a frost which killed 
some things. 

August 5th, following, he adds: " Eev. Jacob Crane, a mis- 
sionary from New York, preached a sermon at my house, to about 
40 hearers." On the 21st of the same month,- he mentions his 
own son-in-law Thompson, who preached two sermons that day 
at the same place. August 25th, there was " a frost that killed 
everything subject to frost." On the 12th and 13th of Septem- 
ber following there was also " some frost." This was the last 
entry of his diary. 

Andrew Tracy, Esq,, died Nov. 1, 1801. 

In 1801, Captain P. Tracy sold his place with the house which 
Messrs. Jones and Milbourne had built in 1790, to Captain 
Amos Bailey. Traces of the ruins of the house are still to be 
seen near the spring, in the orchard of O. Bailey; where there 
are trees set out by the first occupants, which are still bearing. 
Captain Tracy then went to the clearing first made by William 
Harkins, where H. W. Kent now resides ; but remained there 
only two or three years before removing to Wilkes-Barre. All 
of the first family of Andrew Tracy, Esq., left the town soon 
after his death, except his son Leonard who died here in 1802. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. . 117 

The widow of A. Tracy with her children, Samuel, Mary, 
William, and John "Weston, and Sally and Andrew Tracy (the 
last named born soon after his father's death) continued to re- 
side at the homestead until her marriage with Deacon Joshua 
Miles. She died in 1856. Her son Andrew, after his marriage 
removed to Marathon, N. Y. Sally (Mrs. Hayden) says : " I have 
often heard my mother speak of the good old time when we 
lived in Coonrod Castle, and took the door from the hinges and 
laid it on barrels for a table, before we could get any made." 

Samuel and Mary Weston were early teachers in Brooklyn ; 
William, father of E. A. Weston, died here in 1853 ; John, is a 
physician in Towanda, Pa. 

Charles Miner did not take up land in the vicinity of the 
Chapmans and Tracys, but his associations with them, in 1799, 
permit us to copy a few items from a letter written by him 
about fifty years later : — 

" On the 12th of Feb. 1779, in company with Captain Peleg Tracy, his 
brother Leonard, and Miss Lydia Chapman in one sleigh ; Mr John Chase 
of Newburyport and myself in another; set out from Norwich, Ct., and ar- 
rived at Hopbottom the 28th. The snow left us the first night, when we 
were only twelve miles on our way, and we were obliged to place our sleighs 
on trundle wheels. Our cheerful, undaunted female friend, through the pa- 
tience-trying journey of sixteen days (never a tear, a murmur, or a sigh) lived 
to see her grandchildren, the children of an eminent judge of the Supreme 
Court." 

After selling to Captain Tracy, Mr. Jones made a small im- 
provement where James Adams 1st, now lives. This he sold in 
1813, to Latham A. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. J. spent their later 
years near Mrs. Milbourne, in a house of which the logs were 
cut by Mr. Jones, though younger men rolled them up. After 
Mrs. J.'s death, in 1822, he lived with his son-in-law, S. Howard, 
and died in Brooklyn, in 1834, aged 91. 

Bloomfield Milbourne, after he and Mr. Jones left their first 
location, took possession of the place to which Mr. Fox had 
come in 1787. An old apple-tree is still pointed out as near the 
site of his log cabin, on the farm now owned by Lyman Tif- 
fany. The road from Mclntyre Hill to Martin's Creek passes 
the place. It was cut through one early 4th of July, as a holi- 
day job, by Capt. Joshua Sabin, his son Jonathan, Jos. Chap- 
man, Jr., and others; no whiskey was drank on the occasion. 

He is remembered as a very honest, kind-hearted, and oblig- 
ing man, and very fond of a practical joke. He was acknowl- 
edged to be "the greatest chopper in town," and was also u a 
dead shot" with the rifle. 

He married a daughter of Isaac Tewksbury, and spent the 
remainder of his days upon the Fox place. He died in 1839, 
aged 68. 



118 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Eichard McNamara's improvements were purchased by Capt, 
Joshua Sabin, an account of whose settlement is here given, in 
the words of his son, in a letter to J. W. Chapman, Esq.: — 

"In the spring of 1799, Ezekiel Hyde, a land speculator from Connecticut, 
came to my father, who was living in Otsego County, on the left bank of the 
Susquehanna, 70 miles above Great Bend, and told him that he would sell 
him 800 acres of land in Hopbottom. My father accompanied him to H. t 
and bought out McNamara, who gave possession immediately. Then my 
father came back and took my oldest sister, and my brothers Lyman and 
and Aaron, and some household furniture, and moved them to Hopbottom. 
He bought a cow, and left them to keep house for the summer. He had sold 
his farm on the river, but had the use of it that year. He was late in getting 
to Hopbottom to mow the grass, and your grandfather Chapman and your 
father mowed and stacked the hay. In September, my father lashed his two 
canops together, and. loaded with household goods (including a loom, etc.), 
and also a number of apple-trees large enough to set, took me, and went down 
to Great Bend. He there buried the roots of the trees in the ground for the 
winter, and then we started together for Hopbottom, on the Newburgh road 
(the turnpike afterwards built nearly on the same line), seven miles through 
the woods to the first house, which was Corbett's tavern (now Phinney's in 
N. M.), where we halted. I went into the barn, and saw a pair of elk horns on 
the floor. They were standing on four points, and I took off my hat and 
walked between the horns under the skull, and as I stood erect under the 
horns they just touched my hair. (My height was 5 feet 10 inches.) There 
I saw also a tame elk among the cattle. 

"We went on to Hopbottom by way of a town then called 'Nine Part- 
ners.' When we reached our destination, I was heartsick with the place ; 
but I became more reconciled when I became acquainted with your father 
and your uncles Edward and Isaac, and your aunts Lydia and Polly. Your 
grandfather had bought a new place about eight miles from there (in Che- 
bur), and wished me to go with him to visit it. He had already built a house 
on it, and a family named Myers had moved into it till they could build. 

"Mrs. Myers was very glad to see him, and said, ' Captain Chapman, have 
you any snuff?' He told her he had plenty, and she said she 'had suffered so 
for snuff* that if she had 'this house full of gould' she ' would give it all for 
one pinch of snuff.' 

" I helped him fence his ground, and sow and drag in three acres of wheat, 
and I returned home Saturday night. 

"My father went back up the river, and left my oldest sister, myself, and 
Aaron to keep the house. He was down twice during the winter." 

Capt. Sabin's family then consisted of his wife and eight 
children. The letter continues: — 

"The whole family moved down, in March, 1800, in sleighs. They crossed 
the river twice on the ice, and drove the cattle and sheep. They reached the 
new home the last week in March. The most of the stock, consisting of 9 
horses, 60 head of cattle, and 20 sheep, was turned over to Hyde for land, 
which father lost because he failed to get a good title." 

From another letter to the same, written nearly twelve years 
ago, we learn that Capt. Joshua Sabin was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y. He served in the Revolutionary army as cap- 
tain under Washington, and at the close of the war settled in 
Rensselaer County, N. Y., and received an appointment as jus- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 119 

tice. He afterwards rented his farm there, while he lived in 
Otsego County, where Ezekiel Hyde found him. 

He became so disheartened after losing his property through 
the Connecticut land speculation, that after about four years' 
residence in Hopbottom he returned to his old home in Rens- 
selaer County, where he spent the remainder of his days (17 
years) in tranquillity. 

His eleventh child, and the only one born in Susquehanna 
County, had been named after Ezekiel Hyde, who gave him 100 
acres of land, but unfortunately the giver did not really own a 
foot of it. 

The Hopbottom farm continued to be occupied by Jonathan 
Sabin, after his father left, until 1809 (he having in the mean 
time married the widow Raynale), when he removed to the 
Lake country. 

The following incidents were given by Mr. Sabin upon re- 
ceiving a copy of the Montrose ' Republican' which contained the 
proceedings of the Old Settlers' Festival, June, 1858. Hon. J. 
W. Chapman says : " No one acquainted with Jonathan Sabin, 
his skill and success as a hunter, and rectitude as a man, will 
question the truth of his statements." 

"In the spring of 1800, Capt. Bartlet Hinds, in company with another 
man, came five miles through the woods to grind their axes — four in number, 
and new from the blacksmith shop — on my father's Nova Scotia grindstone, 
preparatory to cutting the first trees for a road from Great Bend to where 
Montrose now stands. 

"While reflecting upon the events of my youthful days, my mind involun- 
tarily reverts to some of the wilder and more exciting scenes enjoyed by me 
in hunting game, with which the wilderness of that country, at that time, was 
so bountifully supplied. 

" I was then sixteen years of age, and lived with my father in a house about 
half a mile from Joseph Chapman's, where in those days there stood a yellow 
ivilloiv tree near the foot of the hill. 

"During my four years' residence there, I destroyed five panthers, a num- 
ber of bears, some seven or eight wolves, and at least two hundred deer. On 
one of my hunting excursions, I discovered, about twc-thirds of the distance 
up the mountain southeast from the willow tree, a pile of leaves some two or 
three feet high, and upon examination found they contained a dead buck, 
which I supposed had been placed there by a panther. I took off the skin, 
and covered the body again as I found it, as nearly as I could. I then loaded 
a musket with eleven buckshot, and set it for the panther just at dark, and 
had left it only about five minutes, when I heard the report of the gun ; upon 
returniug to the spot, found the panther dead, not nine rods from the place 
where he received his wound. Every shot had taken effect. He measured 
nine feet in length from his nose to the end of his tail. 

" While upon a hunting excursion about 200 rods north of the house, on the 
hill, I discovered a bear coming directly towards me. I allowed him to come 
within 16 feet before I fired; the charge, a ball and nine buckshot, took effect 
in his heart, and killed him instantly. 

"On another occasion my brother and I went up to the north pond, about 
one mile from the house, to shoot deer by torchlight from a canoe. Soon 
after dark we heard the deer in the pond. We moved towards them care- 



120 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

fully, and when within twelve rods, I fired and killed three the first shot ; and 
before morning I killed four more, making seven deer with five shots, and 
had them all home in the morning." 

From his letter written in 1866, we have the following : — 

" About sixty years ago I saw a man coming up the hill towards my house, 
followed by his horse. He wanted to bait the horse on the beautiful clover 
before the door. That man was Robert R. Rose from Philadelphia. He 
named the town of Montrose. He owned 20,000' acres of land there. He 
surveyed his land himself, and boarded at Captain Hinds' that summer. 

" He sent to me for a barrel of pork. It was impossible to get through the 
woods with a wagon, but I contrived to get the pork to him. I took two poles 
twenty feet long, and bored holes with a two-inch auger, about five feet from 
the butt, and inserted two cross-bars to hold the barrel, then sprung the poles 
together, bound them with withes, and lashed them behind the oxen. In 
this way I took him the pork, and got $20 for it— a great sum in those 
days." 

He also mentions the fact that in 1799, when he came, there 
was no settler from Page's (at Brooklyn Center) to Colonel 
Parke's ; and from Page's to Horton's mills — 9 miles — there was 
but one, John S. Tarbell. 

Four barrels of salt paid for a span of horses purchased by 
Jon. Sabin when he was 21 years old. He sold to Mr. Miles a 
pair of millstones for $50. 

About 1808, Mr. Sabin had occasion to go to Cayuga Co., N. 
Y.j to buy wheat, which could be obtained there for fifty cents per 
bushel, while at Hopbottom it was $2.00 ; and he was then so 
delighted with " the lake country," he determined to leave the 
Beechwoods, and all their game. Having no regular title to 
the land, he sold his " improvements " to John B. Wallace, the 
Pennsylvania claimant, who gave him for them, $100 and 100 
acres. The latter he sold to David Morgan, and in 1809, he re- 
moved to Ovid, N. Y. In 1812, he bought a farm beyond Seneca 
Lake, in Steuben County, and resided there many years. He 
had eight children, one of whom, Joshua, died at Fort Leaven- 
worth in the service of the U. S. during the rebellion. During 
the last twenty years of his life, he was blind from a cataract. 
His home was then with his youngest son in Niagara Co., N. Y., 
where he died the 25th of January 1870, aged 87 years. 

Prior to the departure of Jonathan Sabin, J. B. Wallace and 
his brother in law, Horace Binney, Sen., of Philadelphia, came 
on to see their lands, and employed him to cut a road to "the 
Gregory settlement" in New Milford. 

All his family finally removed to the west. 

The Sabin farm was afterwards occupied by John Seeley, and 
sons Alden, Reuben, and Justus ; Putnam Catlin also resided here 
a short time before he purchased a farm half a mile above, and 

1 The whole tract owned by Dr. Rose in 1809 consisted of nearly 100,000 
acres. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 121 

the place at length came into the possession of Jezreel Dewitt. 
A son of the latter now lives on it. 

It was half a mile from this place up the creek, on the north 
side, that Mr. Trout, another of the immigrants of 1787, was 
located. The farm is now occupied by N. C. Benjamin. 

Mr. Denison's clearing, which was half a mile above Mr. 
Trout's, was early abandoned by him. In 1799, the timber 
around the rock on which his oven was built had grown to a 
diameter of six inches. 

" Conrad Hill" takes its name from the location of one of the 
Conrads a short distance above Denison. 

Prince Perkins first settled where C. E. Palmer now lives, 
but soon moved to the farm now occupied by Charles Kent. 
In 1811, he sold the latter to Latham Williams, and by the 
kind assistance of Colonel Frederick Bailey, procured one hun- 
dred acres of land (which Henry Dennis now owns) and there 
he and his son lived and died. Prince was the soul of all the 
early dancing parties in the vicinity, and was probably an ac- 
cessory to the feast mentioned on another page. Some one ex- 
hibits a memorandum running thus: "1800 — Prince Perkins 
for fiddling on the fourth of July — 'lis. 3d. 

To give a picture of the life of a young woman for a fortnight 
in primitive times, the following is copied from Betsey Leffing- 
well's diary, kept for a friend in Connecticut, in 1799. Miss L. 
had come to visit her sister, Mrs. Capt. Tracy : — 

"Bidwell, 1 September 30 — Monday morn. — Mr. Chapman went to Web- 
ber's 2 after the horses in the time we were getting breakfast, which we eat 
with haste, mounted, and set off. Met Leonard Tracy on our way to Capt. 
Chapman's. Mr. Robison 3 and Mary met us before we got to the house 
where they had been waiting for us near an hour. We soon proceeded on 
our way to Rindaw, called on the Mr. Parkes, was treated with short cake, 
dryed bear's meat, and boyled corn. After a short tarry, we again mounted, 
jogged on to Mount Calm, made a visit to the new house, and then set off 
anew. Drove through swamp-holes, over logs, roots, and stumps, dismount- 
ing every half hour to pass creeks and brooks. At twelve we found seats, 
and partook of a comfortable meal, which refreshed us mightily. By four 
o'clock we came in sight of the famous store, 4 which was filled with men of 
every description. Mr. Hyde, Reynolds, and Miner were not backward in 
welcoming us to Rindaw. We were escorted to Mr. Brunson's by them ; 
found all well, and glad to see the ladies. Mr. Reynolds invited us to walk ; 
we steered for the famous creek, and were joined by Mr. Pascal Tyler and 
the other gentlemen ; took a sail, returned, drank tea, spent a sociable eve, 
and at nine we retired to rest. 



1 Miss L. dates from the residence of Capt. P. Tracy, who then lived where 
Obadiah Bailey now lives. 

1 It is thought Mr. Webber may have lived where S. K. Smith is now. 

3 John W. Robinson. She wrote the name as it was then generally pro- 
nounced. 

4 Enoch Reynolds, of Norwich, had established a store at Rindaw as an ex- 
periment. 



122 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

"Tuesday (Oct. 1st) was very pleasant. We rose, took a walk to the 
store and on the banks of the creek. Returned to breakfast; was intro- 
duced to Doctor Usher and son, from Chatham — a proper tippe. Mr. Hyde 
found some work for us, which employed us till half-past ten, when we prinked 
up, eat a luncheon, mouuted our horses, and set out with Mr. Reynolds, 
Chapman, and Robison to visit the Miss Inghams, seven miles down the 
creek. Had a very polite welcome from the ladies. Was treated with 
melons, apples, and an excellent cup of tea, and many other delicacies too 
numerous to mention. Miss Polly Ingham is soon to be married ; we all had 
a polite invite to (the) wedding, and agreed to attend — hem. At even we 
mounted our nags to return to Brunson's, which we gained by nine; eat a 
hearty supper, and retired to rest. 

"Wednesday. — Rose early, in order to turn our faces towards Bidwell. 
We jogged on leisurely, viewing the country as we passed, and making our 
remarks on the inhabitants and their plantations. There are eleven families 
in fourteen miles of the road, which three years since was a wilderness. At 
three o'clock we got within five miles of Mr. Chapman's ; as it was the last 
house, we called. Mrs. Wilson was happy to see us, and set before us a good 
dinner. It being late, and no road but now and then a blazed tree for our 
guide, we concluded to stay the night. We took a walk around his clearing, 
and found it very pleasant, indeed. Mr. Wilson has been a settler but eight 
months, and has thirteen acres well cleared and fenced; hear this, and be- 
lieve, for it is true. He sows six acres of wheat this fall, with no one to 
assist him. 

" We rose early on Thursday morn, the third day of October, mounted our 
horses, and left them (the Wilsons). We crept along, over hills, and dales, 
and mud-puddles; found the Valley (Capt. C.'s) at 9 o'clock. 

" Fryday, October 4th. — Got home. Mrs. Chapman came and spent the 
day with us, accompanied by Mrs. Tracy. I took a run over to Mrs. Harkins' 
about noon. 

" Saturday, October 5th. — Cloudy, and some rain ; I not over smart to- 
day, but am fixing for our tour down to Rindaw, as we must be ready at a 
minute's warning (for Miss Ingham's wedding). Isaac and Edward Chapman 
called on their way to Mr. Jones'. The day was spent in work and play, and 
the night in sleep. 

" Sunday morn. — Very pleasant. I rose not so early as common. Mr. Mil- 
burne made us a visit before we breakfasted. About eleven, I dressed my- 
self and set off for meeting, alone. Found Milburne at Mr. Harkins', with 
Linsey. They were going to meeting, so Miss Leffingwell had their agree- 
able company. Arriving at Esq. Tracy's, we were disappointed in not hear- 
ing the sermon, as Capt. Sabins had that moment begun the last prayer, and 
such an one as I never heard ; shall, however, say but little about it. I found 
Joseph and his sisters with Mr. Robison, of the congregation, with many 
more not worth mentioning (to you). They all left the house soon after but 
Mr. Chapman and Betty [herself], who drank tea with the Esquire's family, 
and then set off for home. Had a mighty serious walk (with the serious con- 
sequence of a wedding). Took a view of the plantation Mr. Webber is soon 
to move on. Got home by sunset, made up a good winter fire, and spent the 
evening by its side, in good spirits. 

"Monday, October 7th, eve. — Mr. Harkin came in after some oyl for his 
child. I finished washing in time to prink up before dark. Mr. Robison 
made his appearance. We spent the evening very agreeably at whist. Mr. 
R. and Miss Leffingwell came off victorious. 

" Tuesday, 8th. — The afternoon I spent in writing, and the eve in knitting. 

"Wednesday. — No company to-day. I have been ironing, Mr. Tracy 
gathering corn and pumpkins — the largest I ever saw ; they will weigh, take 
them as they rise, thirty pounds, and one thirty-seven. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 123 

"Thursday. — Mr. Chapman has made us a visit, on his way to Mr. Jones', 
to make Nancy a pair of shoes ; had his saddle-bags on his neck. 

" Fry day. — Mr. Chapman called on his way home. We retired to rest at 
eleven. 

"Saturday eve.— I have got the ink-horn, with my paper, in my lap, just 
to bid you a good night's rest. 

" Sunday eve. — We have spent the evening knitting, paring pumpkins, and 
telling riddles. [Saturday evening, and not Sunday evening — a New Eng- 
land custom of early times — was considered a part of the Sabbath.] 

"Monday. . . . Spent the day rationally — no company — and at nine re- 
tired to rest, in spirits." 

Miss Leffingwell was married to Joseph Chapman, Jr., the 
25th of December, 1800, at Norwich, Conn. 

Referring to this, in 1858, Charles Miner said : " Capt. Peleg 
Tracy and Joseph Chapman, Jr., had each chosen a bride of the 
old aristocratic family of Leffingwell, in Norwich, amiable and 
excellent ladies." 

The children of Joseph Chapman, Jr., were George, James W.j 
Lydia(Mrs. J.L.Adams, recently deceased), John H., and Joseph, 
who died a young man. All were born on the farm which their 
father took up on the Hopbottom in 1798, and which Joseph 
Chapman, Jr., purchased under Pennsylvania title (a half mile 
square), and where he and his wife resided to the close of their 
lives. He died in 1845, and Mrs. C. in 1846. 

Joseph Chapman, Jr., was a shoemaker, and one " who was 
never known to fail in keeping his promise." 

George purchased a farm adjoining his father's, but the latter 
is occupied by C. M. Chapman, a son of George ; and thus it has 
been held by four generations of the same famil}^. 

Samuel Howard's first clearing is now the farm of Nehemiah 
Mack ; he afterwards cleared the farm of James Adams, Sr., 
and finally settled near B. Milbourne, until late in life, when 
he removed to South Auburn, where he died in 1843, aged 
seventy. Mrs. H. died in 1872. 

In 1800, Jacob Tewksbury, from Vermont, bought out Mr. 
Page, who, with his large family — eleven children — was located 
just where Brooklyn Center now is. What was then known 
as Dutch Meadow is partly covered by the village cemetery. 
The Page place was purchased, in 1808, by Deacon Joshua 
Miles, and Jacob Tewksbury removed to a farm about half a 
mile west of it (where Rev. L. H. Porter now lives), and after- 
wards went to Gibson, where he died November, 1842, aged 
seventy-four. 

Ebenezer Whitney came first to the clearing made by Mark 
Hartley, but soon removed to the place now owned by C. S. 
Perkins. 

Capt. Amos Bailey was born in Groton, Ct., January, 1777. 
He was married, February, 1801, to Miss Prudence Gere, a 



124 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

sister of Charles and Ebenezer Gere, and came with the latter 
to "Bidwell" the following month. (The locality was then in 
Nicholson, Luzerne County.) Capt. Charles Gere settled in 
what is now Lathrop, but Ebenezer G. and Capt. Bailey spent 
the summer with the family of Capt. Tracy. They were 
obliged to go to the mouth of the Tunkhannock for some pro- 
visions, which they brought on horseback, with marked trees 
to guide them ; and seven miles to mill, leading the horse that 
carried the grist. Capt. B. killed the first deer he ever saw 
the morning after he arrived here. He and Mr. Gere split 
lumber from a cherry log, and made them a table and a bed- 
stead. The table is still in perfect preservation in the room of 
one of his daughters, on the place where it was made ; and from 
its neatness of finish no one would suspect it was constructed 
outside of a cabinet shop. Possibly it is the only piece of 
furniture now in the county which was furnished by its 
forests and foresters in 1801. In the fall of that year they 
returned to Connecticut, where Mr. G. remained nearly twenty- 
one years before he came to settle in Brooklyn. It was the 
intention of Capt. Bailey to bring his wife that winter, but as 
there was no sleighing he came alone, and worked through the 
summer of 1802. He purchased of Mr. Tracy his improve- 
ments, and the log house, built in 1790, by Messrs. Jones and 
Milbourne; and in the fall, with his wife, began housekeeping 
on the farm, where both lived until death. They came from 
Connecticut in a wagon, and were seventeen daj^s on the road, 
three of which were spent in traveling from Great Bend, 
twenty miles. But they were more fortunate than many of the 
early settlers; they had a home to come to, and provisions in 
store for them, and something to spare to the hungry who 
came to their house; still they necessarily suffered many hard- 
ships and privations. Mrs. B. lived here three months without 
seeing a woman ; but, though she had left a good home and 
society, she endured her privations cheerfully. As the country 
was cleared up, all the privileges of social life sprang up 
around them. Their united industry and economy soon secured 
to them a comfortable home. Capt. B. cleared his farm, and 
raised stock and produce to pay for it. He planted his first 
orchard from seeds which he brought from Connecticut; some 
of the trees are now standing and bearing. 

In 1856, John Lord, Sr., just before his death, wrote the 
following: — 

"Capt. Amos Bailey was here about two years before I came. He was 
always foremost in opening roads to accommodate new settlers. As soon 
as there were children enough for a school, then he was the foremost one 
in providing good schools. Through his influence the necessary amount 
of subscription was raised for a public meeting-house, which was built 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 125 

without serious embarrassment to any one. He has always been a man of 
peace, and, by his friendly interpositions, he has prevented many serious 
litigations. Prominent men were willing to take counsel of him, because 
they knew he would act for the good of all." 

Capt. Bailey died November 9, 1865, in the eighty-ninth 
year of his age. 

Mrs. Bailey was greatly respected and beloved. She died 
July 15th, 1854, aged 85 years and 9 months. Amos Bailey 
and wife were among the earliest and most active Universalists 
of the. township. Their children were: Prucly, who married 
Robert Kent, and died in Bridgewater, in 1863 ; Amos G., who 
lived in Brooklyn, and died in 1855; Eunice G., and Obadiah, 
at the old homestead — the farm which W. P. Bailey, a son of 
the last named, now owns and occupies with him. 

Silas Lewis was a settler of 1801. Also, Edward Goodwin ; 
Amos, Daniel, and William Lawrence. Amos Lawrence occu- 
pied the Hartley place after E. Whitney, but removed, with his 
brother Allen, after a few years, to Dimock. 

Joshua Saunders and family settled at Mack's Corners. While 
his son Nathan was helping Capt. Bailey to clear his land, about 
1804, he was knocked down by the limb of a tree, and died from 
his injuries. Mr. S. sold to Elisha Mack in 1811, and in 1817 
moved to Ohio with Orlando Bagley and sons, and returned, 
after a time, to Brooklyn. 

1802. — Jeremiah Gere — cousin of Charles and Ebenezer Gere, 
and son of Rezin Gere who fell at Wyoming — lived the first 
three years after his arrival with Joseph Chapman, Jr., and 
tanned leather in vats dug out of pine logs. In 1806, on the 
day of the great eclipse, he moved into the frame house he had 
built on the farm where S. W. Breed now lives. He died Sep- 
tember, 1842, aged 72. 

Charles V., his eldest son, died recently in Minnesota, aged 
74 years; George M. died there, also ; Henry resides in Mis- 
souri, and Edward L. in Brooklyn. Two others of his sons and 
two daughters are dead. Miss Otis, afterwards the wife of Free- 
man Peck, of Harford, came in with the family. 

Mott Wilkinson and family came in 1802; also, Sergeant 
Tewksbury (a brother of Jacob), from Vermont. He settled 
just below Joshua Saunders, where John Bolles now lives; he 
died in 1842, aged 68. 

1803. — Isaac Tewksbury (father of Jacob and Sergeant T.) 
and Barnard Worthing came from Vermont on a visit; the lat- 
ter purchased an improvement — the Abel Green farm (in La- 
throp). Both returned the same fall. Alfred Tiffany and family 
came from Plarford. 

1804. — Early in this year, Isaac Tewksbury and family located 
on the clearing of one of the original forty settlers of Brook- 



126 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

lyn — "Mclntyre" hill. For nearly fifty years this hill has 
been crowned with the Universalist church, a landmark for 
miles around. 

Isaac and Jacob T. built the first saw-mill in the town, about 
1805, nearly opposite the house now owned by P. G. Birch. 
Isaac and Judith T. are buried in the Methodist Episcopal 
churchyard. 

The ancestors of the family came from Tewksbury, Eng- 
land, where one of them, John, was burned at the stake, about 
1620. 

Orlando Bagley, wife, four sons, and three daughters came 
on ox and horse sleds from Hartland, AVindsor County, Vermont, 
at the same time with Isaac Tewksbury. Jesse B., the oldest 
son, now (1871) 85 years old, says : — 

"We started on Tuesday, and were two Sundays on the road. It was in 
March, and the snow in some places was nearly five feet in depth. We set- 
tled on the hill east of what is now Mack's Corners. We went to Tunk- 
hannock and Wilkes-Barre for store goods, to Horton's and Tunkhannock to 
mill, and to Hyde's, at the forks of the Wyalusing, to our post-office. Esquire 
Hinds, only, lived where Montrose is." 

Orlando Bagley 's sons were : Jesse, Stephen, Thomas, George, 
and Washington. The family moved to Ohio in 1817, but four 
of the brothers returned to Brooklyn. Jesse recently removed 
to Lanesboro'. 

The present Mrs. Otto, nee Miriam Worthing, and two of her 
brothers, came to the town with the families of Orlando Bagley 
and Isaac Tewksbury, a few months before Barnard Worthing, 
her father, located permanently in the vicinity. She spent 
some years in the family of Deacon Joshua Miles, and prepared 
for teaching. She taught school twenty seasons in Susquehanna 
and Luzerne counties. She united with the Methodist class in 
1821, at the age of 17, and was acquainted with all the early 
ministers of that denomination. She has contributed some 
valuable items to its history. 

Capt. Charles Gere (brother of Ebenezer), remained in La- 
throp until 1803 or 1804, when he came to the place now owned 
by Joseph Tiffany, and remained there until his death, early in 
1842. His wife was a sister of Drs. B. A. and Mason Denison, 
and, from her own knowledge of medicine, she was accustomed to 
practice at an early day, going to her patients on horseback, 
guided by marked trees. 

Of their children, Charles D. and Mrs. Dr. Merrill are de- 
ceased ; Robert W. and one daughter, Mrs. J. W. Adams, live 
in Brooklyn, and another, Mrs. Sarah D. Kintner, in Wyoming 
County. 

1804-1807. — Samuel Yeomans and sons Joseph and Samuel, 
Isaiah Fuller, Noah Fuller, and Stephen Gere (brother of Jere- 




"wva/iv Ji/,n Avi" 



&&9« 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 127 

miah, and father of Albert R. Gere now of Brooklyn), John 
Seeley and sons Alden, Reuben, and Justus, settled in the town. 

COL. FREDERICK BAILEY. 

Col. Frederick Bailey, a younger brother of Capt. Amos Bailey, bought 
of Amos Lawrence his title to the improvement first begun by Mark Hart- 
ley, Sr. (father of Esquire Hartley, of Lenox), one of the original Nicholson 
settlers. He afterwards added to his possessions by purchase from the State 
of some vacant land adjacent, making with this the large and valuable farm 
now owned by his youngest son, Henry L. Bailey. Here Col. Bailey settled, 
in 1807, and resided till his death, in September, 1851, at the age of 71 years. 
Having acquired a thorough common-school education in his native State 
(Connecticut), he was several times employed in winter in teaching the youth 
of his neighborhood. One who attended his school at the age of five years, 
and again at the age of 11, contributes the following notice of Col. B. :— 

" The writer of this, among several others, most of threescore years or 
more, can bear testimony to his strict discipline, thorough training, and his 
happy faculty of inspiring the ambition of his pupils, and laying the foundation 
for all their attainments in after life. He was not only a successful teacher and 
a thrifty farmer at home, but a man whose qualifications fitted him to be fore- 
most in any public enterprise. The old Milford and Owego Turnpike Road, 
which sixty years ago was considered almost as momentous an undertaking 
as the Pacific Railroad was half a century later, furnishing as it did a tho- 
roughfare for travel by daily stages from Western New York to the city, 
through this corner of Pennsylvania, owed much to his wide-awake, perse- 
vering energy for its construction and maintenance as a public benefit, till 
superseded "by the railroads of the country. But it was in the domestic cir- 
cle — in his own family and immediate neighborhood— that he was most espe- 
cially appreciated. His surviving children piously regard the fifth com- 
mandment, while many other relatives and friends revere and cherish his 
memory." The following extract from the obituary, published at the time, 
is expressive of the sentiment entertained : " He was intimately identified 
with every enterprise calculated to promote the growth and improvement of 
the country. He was extensively known in it, and was eminently respected 
by the past generation and the present as a man of sound judgment, superior 
business attainments, and active, prompt, and energetic habits. He was 
alike liberal in his sentiments and his actions ; and having obtained a compe- 
tency by his industry and prudent management, his heart and his hand were 
always open to the wants of his friends and neighbors." 

He had six sons and four daughters. He had buried one wife, three sons, 
and one daughter (among whom was his eldest son, Frederick W. Bailey, an 
enterprising merchant near Boston). Two daughters and his second wife 
have since deceased — the latter in 1869, in her 90th year. Robert M. Bai- 
ley, of Boston, James W. Bailey, of Lawrence, Mass., Mrs. Win. Stevens, 
of Pike, Bradford County, and Henry L. Bailey, now on the old homestead, 
constitute the remainder of his family. 

1808. — Joshua Miles — commonly called Captain or Deacon 
Miles — came to Brooklyn Center, purchased the saw-mill of 
the Tewksburys, and built a grist-mill. He is remembered 
as a public-spirited man, a good mathematician, and a devoted 
Christian. He had quite a library, for those days, of excellent 
books, including a number of volumes of sermons, which were 
read in public worship nearly every Sabbath for years after 



128 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Lis death, which occurred July 6, 1815. His house occupied 
the site of D. A. and A. Tittsworth's store. 

Erastus Caswell, a brother of Mrs. Miles, came with her and 
remained some time; afterwards went to Wilkes-Barre, mar- 
ried, and did not return to Brooklyn until 1825. He had nine 
children, of whom six live in the vicinity. 

1809. — Noah Tiffany, from Massachusetts, came with his 
family, including his sons Olney, Noah, and John, and their 
sister (now the widow of Eliab Farrer, of Harford), to the 
Harkins place, near a fine spring, the coveted location of early 
settlers. After Deacon Miles's death, he purchased his house 
and farm, and resided there until his death, July 19, 1818. He 
had been postmaster some years, and his son Arunah occupied 
this post during the two years he resided in the place, immedi- 
ately subsequent to the death of his father. 

Charles Perigo and Edward Payne were settlers of 1809. 

1810. — Joshua Miles, Jr., came in the fall, with his wife and 
one child (subsequently Mrs. Dr. B. Eichardson). After two or 
three years he came in possession of the mill property of his 
father. He was a man of enterprise and sterling integrity. 
Being a carpenter, he erected two saw-mills in Brooklyn and 
two in Lathrop, and two grist-mills in Brooklyn, several 
dwelling-houses, a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, and, 
for himself, an oil and a paper-mill. The last-named enterprise 
was burned in 1842, soon after it was started, and embarrassed 
him so much he decided to repair his fortune at the West. He 
removed to Sterling, 111., in 1813, and died there in 1863, aged 
eighty-five. 

Elisha Safford, a native of Massachusetts, came from Con- 
necticut to the west part of Brooklyn in 1810, and selected 
the farm which he afterwards cleared, cutting the first tree 
felled on the place, and which is now occupied by Albert 
Allen ; a pretty ridge, abounding with hemlock, beech, birch, 
and maple. He brought in his family — wife and two children — 
in 1811, and built a log house, which he occupied nineteen 
years. His wife, Olive, is said to have been " always abound- 
ing in works of kindness and love to her neighbors." She 
reared six sons and four daughters to adult age, and all settled 
not far from home. When she was in her seventieth year she 
wrote a sketch of her early life in Brooklyn, from which the 
following is copied : — 

" There were at that time meetings held on the Sabbath at a dwelling- 
house two miles from us. We attended as often as we could conveniently, 
but we had to walk and carry our children. When we did not go we did 
not wholly forget the Sabbath ; we did not visit or receive visitors on that 
day. Like others, we had to suffer many privations. The necessaries of 
life were hard to be got. My husband went, one time, ten miles for a half 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 129 

bushel of salt, and brought it home on his back. The roads were very bad ; 
but, prompted by ambition, I did forbear to murmur or complain, though at 
times, when the friends and associates we had left behind came fresh to my 
mind, I would think within myself, Oh, why was my lot cast in the wilds of 
Susquehanna !" The pen of one of her daughters writes : " Father had 
sheep, and mother spun and wove, and, with her girls' help, made warm 
clothing for winter, and bedding too. He raised flax every year, and we 
spun and wove it every springtime. I remember well, when I was seven 
years old, of spinning; having the quill wheel fitted up with ' standard,' and 
old-fashioned ' head,' as I was too small to spin on the great wheel." 

After describing a terrific night-storm, she says : — 

" In the morning we looked out upon what seemed a new world. So much 
of the woods was laid prostrate, we could look through the opening and see 
cleared fields and buildings three miles distant — a great treat to us, although 
the damage done in the forest was great. Southwest of us, about six acres 
were swept nearly smooth." 

Some years after that, a raging fever went through the place, 
three or four in a family being sick at one time. 

Elisha S afford died in 1862, aged eighty-one. His wife, 
after years of suffering, died in 1859. aged seventy-three. One 
son, J. Dwight Safford, now deceased, became a minister, a 
member of the Wyoming Conference. 

Silas P. Ely " contributed his full share to every public 
improvement." He came in the first of the Ely family, his 
father Gabriel and uncle Zelophehad Ely, arriving three or 
four years later. He had a large family, of whom only three 
survive ; his son George occupies the homestead. He lived to 
be eighty-one years old ; had been a Presbyterian for fifty 
years. 

The Macks of Brooklyn belong to three families, descend- 
ants of three brothers : Elisha Mack's sons were Elisha, Marvin, 
and Enoch 2d; Elijah's were Josiab, Elijah B., Nehemiah, and 
Edward; Enoch has but one, Flavel. Enoch settled where 
Amos Hollister lives. 

David Morgan, Gideon Beebe, Bela Case, Isaac Sterling and 
sons, Bradley and Isaac H., carpenters, were settlers of 1810. 
Isaac H. Sterling is now a resident of Sterling, 111. 

Dr. Mason Denison began the practice of his profession in 
Brooklyn about 1810. 

Putnam Catlin, Esq., came to the township as agent for the 
Wallace estate of " 14,000 acres of beech and maple lands," 
receiving land in payment, of which a part was Mr. Sabin's 
old sugar-camp. He built a fine residence here. The Hop- 
bottom post-office was established in 1813, P. Catlin, post- 
master. The returns for letter-postage, the first quarter, were 
$1.00. In the small frame building erected for the office, his 
son George, "since eminent on three continents as an artist, 
9 



130 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

and particularly as a delineator of Indian life and features," 
once taught school. 

When George was born, his parents resided in or near 
"Wilkes-Barre. His mother's maiden name was Sutton, and she 
belonged to a prominent family in Wyoming Yalley. Putnam 
Catlin was admitted as an attorney during the first court in 
Wilkes-Barre, May 29, 1787. He removed to Windsor, K Y., 
and from there to Brooklyn, then (1810) included in Bridge- 
water. His aged father resided with him, and died here. 
Julius, a brother of George, who also had artistic tastes, was 
drowned, in 1828, at Eochester, N. Y., while sketching the 
Falls. 

Though Putnam Catlin is said to have had an " aristocratic 
bearing," he was yet truly affable and easily approached. The 
poor were never turned away from his door. He would say, 
" I shall always have enough," and would take the clothing, 
which Mrs. C. thought still serviceable, and give it to the child- 
ren of others more needy. He encouraged young men to clear 
land for him; and though it was then the custom to give cattle, 
or " truck," as payment for work, he would pay to each from two 
to three dollars in cash, that they might be able to expend 
something on holidays. Even as late as 1825, for a whole sum- 
mer's work, a farm-hand received but $10 in cash, the rest being 
in produce, etc. 

While he was cashier of the Silver Lake Bank, he and his 
family lived for a time where J. S. Tarbell lives in Montrose; 
and afterwards in the bank building, now owned and occupied 
by I 1 . B. Chandler. Afterwards he removed to Great Bend, 
where he died in 1842, aged 77. Mrs. C. died two years later, 
at Delta, N. Y., in her 74th year. 

He had been a drummer-boy of the Revolution. He was 
born in Litchfield, Ct., and was there admitted to the bar. In 
1814 he was a Representative in the Legislature of Penn'a. 

A story is told of one of his early trips from Wilkes-Barre to 
" Nine Partners." The only house of entertainment was half- 
way between the places; it was built of logs, and consisted ap- 
parently of but one room, containing two or three beds. There 
was no floor. A short-cake was baking before the fire, and a 
white cloth was spread on a stump, the only table. At bedtime 
he was invited to sleep " in the other room," a pleasant fiction, 
as the only partition consisted in the projecting chimney and 
another stump. 

Justice Kent, originally from Massachusetts, came in 1810 
from Windsor, N. Y., to the farm now occupied by David, his 
oldest son, and which then adjoined that of P. Catlin on the 
north. When Mr. K. brought his family in 1811 to the log- 
cabin he had engaged the previous season, it was occupied by 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 131 

Joseph Guernsey and family, and for six weeks the two fami- 
lies lived in one room; four adults, and twelve children; six of 
the latter in each family. A ladder led to a small loft where 
some of the children slept. Fifteen sheep were yarded near the 
house. Dogs could not be depended upon for guard, as they 
were afraid of the bears. 

Mr. K. built a grist-mill (where Jewett's saw-mill is) near the 
present line of Bridgewater. Robert, his second son, tended 
the mill, though at times he did not have more than one cus- 
tomer a week. He with other boys was accustomed to practice 
stratagem to secure venison. They made temporary salt licks 
between the roots of trees, then constructed a bower, and " set" 
a gun for an unwary animal. He was a playmate with George 
Catlin at Windsor, and confirms the statements of the latter re- 
specting his prowess in hunting, saying : " He would hit if with- 
in fifteen rods of anything." He had eleven children, all of 
whom are living in the county, except one daughter. His sons 
are Robert, Elijah, H. Wallace, Ezra S., Charles, and George J. 

About 1825, farmers began to realize cash for cattle sold to 
drovers. A two-year old would sell for from seven to nine 
dollars. In 1826, one farmer sold 100 bushels of wheat at 75 
cents per bushel, and only one bushel could command cash. 

This money was the first he had received in fifteen months ; 
the fifteen shillings he had previous to that time, had held out ! 
Money for taxes was raised by working on the turnpike. 

1811. — Nathan Jewett came in the spring from East Haddam, 
Conn., built a log-house on the place now occupied by his grand- 
son, Nathan R. Jewett, and then returned for his family. They 
arrived Nov. 3, 1811. He had then two children, Francis, who 
died when a young man, and Rodney, fifteen months old. Two 
daughters and one son, Allen, were born here. Thejast named 
was killed in the war for the Union. 

On his arrival, he paid for his farm, 100 acres or more, in 
gold ; and always enjoyed a competence from the fruits of his 
labor. He died in 1861, aged 78. Mrs. J. died in 1865, aged 77. 

Cyril Giddings ; David Sutliflf, and sons Zerah, Joel and Har- 
ris ; Latham Williams and family, from Groton, Conn. ; and 
Jedediah Lathrop, were among the settlers of 1811. Also, 
Jacob Wilson, who taught the first school in his neighborhood. 

Wise Wright, from Connecticut, settled in Brooklyn (where 
his son Orlando now resides) ; at the same time (1811) his brother 
Anthony settled in Lathrop. A lady of Brooklyn writes : — 

" I remember when Wise Wright and family lived in a log-house covered 
with bark. Perhaps none here endured more of the hardships and priva- 
tions of a new country than Mrs. W. Many times after the children were 
in bed, she had spun a day's work ; sometimes working all night to procure 
food and clothing for their needy family. They had nine children, and lived 



132 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

to enjoy a comfortable home on the farm where they first settled ; and where 
they both died. Mr. W. died in 1854, aged 71 ; and Mrs. W. a few years 
later." 

Esek H. Palmer and Amy his wife were natives of New Lon- 
don Co., Ct., where they lived until after the birth of four of 
their twelve children. In March, 1811, he came from Conn, on 
foot and alone, to the house of Amos Bailey, in Susquehanna 
County. After prospecting a little, he selected the farm now 
occupied by his son, C. E. Palmer (Prince Perkins' first " chop- 
ping"), cleared, put in crops, and made them ready to leave 
until harvest ; and then returned, as he came, to Connecticut. 
In August following he brought his family and goods in a two- 
horse wagon, and commenced housekeeping in a log-house be- 
longing to his neighbor A. Bailey. The lumber for his own 
house had to be drawn from Titus' mill (now Oakley's) up a 
steep hill; and by the road, they had to travel more than three 
miles with oxen and sled in the heat of summer ; but he perse- 
vered, and had his house inclosed so that the family moved into 
it in Nov. 1812. The old house was removed in 1840, and a 
new one built near its site. Here he died Oct. 31, 1861, in his 
84th year. 

Mrs. P. now (1872) in her 90th year, resides at the homestead. 
Their six daughters, and four of their sons, James S., Gurdon 
W., Charles R., and Isaac N., became heads of families. The 
oldest son, James S., formerly edited a paper in Montrose, 
and is now a preacher of the Universalist denomination in 
Mansfield, Pa. Two sons and one daughter are deceased ; the 
rest of the family are independent farmers, or farmers' wives of 
Susquehanna County. 

1812. — Stephen Breed came from Stonington, Conn., to the 
clearing where Adam Miller and family had their home in 
1787 ; but, prior to 1812, it had been also vacated by James 
Coil and Edward Goodwin. Mr. Breed was extensively 
known as the keeper of a public-house. " Early in the Tem- 
perance Reformation he adopted its principles ; and to the 
time of his decease kept a temperance house, where travelers 
found a home at which good order and comfort awaited them." 
He was for many years an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. 
He died in 1852, and his farm is now occupied by his widow 
and their son, R. F. Breed. 

Edward Packer settled on Mclntyre Hill, on the farm now 
occupied by Dudley Packer, his son. It was in this vicinity 
that Hon. Asa Packer, now of Mauch Chunk, learned the car- 
penter's trade. 

James Packer, Solomon Dickinson, Caleb Crandall and 
family, Luther and Erastus Catlin, Ephraim Howe, Thomas 
and William Sterling, were all here in 1812. 



HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 133 

1818. — Dana Fox, at the age of 18, came from Connecticut 
with a sister (afterwards Mrs. P. Wood) older than himself, 
into the wilderness, and cleared the farm where Lebbeus Rogers 
afterwards lived and died. 

David Bissel came in this year. 

James Smith, wife, and sons Latham A. and Isaac, with 
their families, came from Connecticut. The ten children of 
L. A. Smith now (1871) reside within the county, and two are 
prominent physicians. James S. died at the age of 83, and his 
wife at that of 82. 

1814. — Gabriel and Zelophehad Ely. The sons of the latter 
were Lyman, John R., Hiram, and Jacob. He died about 
1822. Gabriel Ely was postmaster in 1815 or '16. 

Anthony Fish, and sons Francis, Frederick, and Asa. He 
had eventually four daughters, three of whom reside in the 
county. 

Israel Reynolds, and sons Nathaniel and Samuel. Two other 
sons, Hatfield and Israel, died long since. 

1815. — Asa Crandall, Sen., a wheelwright. 

Joshua Baker, a Baptist minister, had a large family. He 
moved to Lenox, where he died in 1871. 

Nathaniel Sterling resided in Brooklyn until his death, 
April 15, 1872, in his 98th year. 

Andrew and Lebbeus Rogers, Peter Herkimer, James Oakley 
and family, from Harford ; Ebenezer Payne, Thaddeus Palmer, 
Elihu B. Smith, Elisha Williams, Thomas and James Davison, 
are reported as here in this year. 

1816. — Dr. Samuel Bissel, Stephen Griffis, Joshua and Josiah. 
Fletcher, Laban and David Cushing, Joseph Lines, Joshua 
Jackson, wife, and sons Joshua and Joseph, with their wives, 
and Caleb (single). 

George Cone, wife and two children, came in February, in a 
" coaster " wagon, with three yoke of oxen. He brought in 
$2500 — then considered a large sum. None of the family 
remain here. His place is owned and occupied by Rodney 
Jewett. 

1817. — Jonas R. Adams, a hatter. 

Thomas Garland came from Maine and set up a tailor's shop; 
the first in the county outside of Montrose. In June, 1821, 
he received the appointment of postmaster, the office then 
being named Hopbottom, though the town was Waterford. 
It was upon his petition that the town received the name of 
the P. O. 

1818. — Lodowick Bailey, a younger brother of Amos and 
Frederic B., is still a resident of the township, and recently 
celebrated his 86th birthday. As illustrative of the longevity 
of the people of this section, it may be stated that there were 



134 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

five persons present at the celebration between 80 and 90 years 
of age ; six between 70 and 80 ; and seventeen between 60 and 
70. In the fall of 1867, forty-nine persons in Brooklyn were 
over 70 years old, fifteen of whom were over 80, and one (N. 
Sterling just noticed) over 90. With few exceptions, all were 
natives of New England. One year later, there were bat thirty- 
six reported as being over 70. 

Amos Merrill, wife, and sons Jonathan H. and Amos B. The 
elder became a physician, and died in New Hampshire ; the 
younger resides in Hopbottom. The mother died in her 100th 
year. 

Asa Hawley, father of E. W. Hawley, of Bridgewater; Abel 
Hawley, brother of Asa, and father of Joseph H., of Lenox, and 
Nelson H., of Montrose ; Jeremiah Spencer, a carpenter, who 
lived and died on the old Saunders farm ; Isaac Aldrich ; 
Arunah Tiffany (postmaster two years) ; Thomas Oakley ; 
Moses Smith ; Joseph Peckham. The last named took up a 
farm which is now divided — his widow and son James occupy- 
ing one part of it, and G. W. Palmer the part which George 
Newbury purchased before him. 

1819-22.— Nathan Aldrich ; George Eisley ; Capt. Eandall, a 
cooper ; Eufus Pierpont, and Eichard Williams, afterwards in 
Lathrop, with his father's family, and John Austin. 

Ebenezer Gere, twenty-one years after his first sojourn in the 
county, returned with his wife and children — the present Mrs. 
E. O. Miles, and Mrs. G. W. Palmer, of Brooklyn, and Christo- 
pher M. Gere, of Montrose — to the farm which he had purchased 
in 1816, of Orlando Bagley. He remained here until his death. 
Mrs. G. is still living (1872) in her 90th year. 

1823. — James Noble (as asserted by many) was the first mer- 
chant in the town. He had been previously a short time at 
Burrows Hollow in Gibson, but came here from New York. 
It was at his suggestion the town received the name of Brook- 
lyn. In 1831, he removed to Springville, where he remained 
two or three years; then returned to New York, where he 
died. 

The celebration of the 4th of July, 1823, is remembered as 
more general and spirited than that of any previous year. 

1823-24. — Edward Otto, Isaiah Hawley, and Capt. Eowland 
Miles and families. 

1825. — Capt. Elisha Baker purchased of Samuel Weston the 
farm now owned by his son, Jared Baker, of New York. 

William Ainey was born in Fulton Co., N.Y., in 1776. His 
w r ife (Hannah Crawford) was a native of Connecticut. She died 
ten years after their arrival ; he died aged 74. Both lie in the 
old burying ground near the Methodist church. Of their grand- 
sons, Albert J. Ainey is a practicing physician at Brooklyn 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 135 

Center ; D. C. Ainey, at New Milford, and William H. Ainey 
is a prominent lawyer, and president of a national bank in the 
city of Allentown. Their father (Jacob) was for some years a 
resident of Dimock. 

1826-1830. — Y. S. Culver ; Lucius Eobinson (had a carding 
machine and fulling works many years) ; Jezreel and Aaron 
Dewitt from New Jersey ; Eli B. Goodrich ; Isaac and Amos 
Van Auken ; Dr. B. Richardson. 

Rollin T. Ashley came from Atlantic Co., N. Y., in the spring 
of 1831, and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1866 he 
was elected associate judge of the Susquehanna courts, which 
office he held until the recent election of James W. Chapman. 

Years of disquiet to the settlers, in consequence of conflicting 
claims of Philadelphia landholders, did not prevent them from 
improving the land, and erecting buildings in comfortable style. 
One source of difficulty had arisen from the fact that land war- 
rants issued to Chew and Allen, in 1775, were overlapped by 
those issued to John Nicholson in 1785; but at last, by decision 
of the Legislature, March, 1842, the minds of the people were 
set at rest. 

The first school-house in Brooklyn was made of logs ; the 
first teacher in it was Leonard Tracy, December, 1800. He died 
two years later. There appears to have been no school from that 
time until 1807, when Samuel Weston taught for one winter. 
Following him during the next five years were: Edward Chap- 
man, Mary Weston, Frederick Bailey, Eunice Otis, Miss Austin, 
George Catlin, Mrs. Joseph Chapman, Jun., and Joshua Miles ; 
the ladies teaching in summer, and the gentlemen in winter. 

Jesse Bagley taught very early near Mack's Corners ; and 
several years afterwards in other localities. 

A daughter of Capt. Amos Bailey writes : — 

" The first school in this district, as near as I can ascertain, was taught by 
Lucretia Kingsley, of Harford, in Mr. Milbourne's barn, in the year 1812. 
The next, by Col. Frederick Bailey, in his own house. Our first school-house 
was burnt soon after it was built; I think Dea. Cyril Giddings was teaching 
that winter. Another school-house was built on the same spot. Miss Sally 
Kingsbury (now the widow of Lyman Richardson), Miss Ruth Cone, and 
Noah Williston Kingsbury, of Harford (now deceased), were among the early 
teachers of this district. It was at a school of the last named that a young 
woman brought a grammar, wishing to study that branch; but it was thought 
by some of the directors to be unnecessary, and likely to interfere with other 
studies ; and was not allowed. The only branches taught in school where 
my sister, my brother Amos, and myself attended, were spelling, reading, 
writing, and arithmetic. Thus, and because we could not be spared to go to 
school much, after we were old enough to work, our advantages of school 
education were limited enough. My last teacher was Mr. Asa Crandall." 

Eliza Milbourne was the first teacher near E. Safford's, in 1820- 

Of later teachers, whose labors were continued year after 

year, honorable mention may be made of Sarah D. Gere, 



136 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

daughter of Charles Gere, and of Verie Aim Safford, who be- 
gan teaching between 1830-35. Miss Safford died July, 1867, 
aged 59. 

Samuel A. Newton came from Connecticut in 1833, to the 
farm Deacon Jacob Wilson had owned and occupied, and where 
he had taught school in his own house, about four miles from 
Montrose. Here, in the fall of 1839, he established a select 
school which was afterwards known for years as Newtonville 
Institute. He died in 1863. 

Among the earliest town-officers were : Cyril Giddings, first 
constable of Waterford, and Fred. Bailey and David Sutliff, 
first supervisors (1814). Joshua Miles, Jeremiah Gere, Charles 
Gere, and Joseph Chapman, Jun., were elected " freeholders " 
the following year. Frederick Bailey was town clerk in 
1820. 

The Abington and Waterford Turnpike was incorporated by 
Act of Legislature, in 1823. It passes through the township 
from north to south. 

In addition to the remarkably cold seasons of 1801 and 1816, 
maybe noticed that of the hard winter of 1812-43, in Brooklyn. 
The diary of Miss Y. A. Safford states: — 

" The snow fell at intervals from early in November until February, 1843, 
when there was four feet of snow on the ground. The roads were almost 
impassable till April." Under date of April 12th, she added : " Farmers 
almost without exception are destitute of hay. Many have kept their stock 
on browse for a month past. Numbers of sheep and cattle have died, and 
those that are alive can scarcely get up alone. Poor people, who had man- 
aged to lay by a few bushels of grain for their families, have used them up, 
and are now destitute of food either for themselves or cattle." Later, her 
journal continues : " Snow fell on the first day of December, 1845, and bare 
ground was not seen again till March, 1846. Uninterrupted good sleighing 
four months in succession. A great flood when the snow thawed." 

Notwithstanding the severity of Brooklyn winters, its soil is 
productive to an extent that compares well with that of other 
townships. Tall oats and large crops of wheat have been re- 
ported. In 1839, a pumpkin was raised which weighed a hun- 
dred pounds. Cattle thrive, either from the quality of the 
grass and grain, or from the good attention paid to their wants. 
Industry and thrift characterize the inhabitants and their sur- 
roundings. 

Though the cluster of buildings surrounding the hotel, store, 
and post-office, at Montrose Depot, are in the township, the 
station itself is in Harford, as the Lackawanna and Western 
Railroad runs east of Martin's Creek — the eastern limit of 
Brooklyn. 

"The village of Brooklyn is built on an inclined plane, 40 minutes from 
rail. It has a post-office and a daily mail, and here, and in the township, 
it is said theie are two hotels, five dry goods stores, one dentist, two 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 137 

physicians, and three wealthy retired merchants ; four music-teachers. 
There is also a steam saw-mill, cabinet and chair factory, a tannery, a stove 
and tin shop, a carding machine, two feed mills, a flour-mill nearly ready 
for operation, four saw-mills, two cider-mills, a tailor shop, a cooper shop, 
four blacksmith shops, two carriage shops, one harness shop, four boot and 
shoe shops, and two movable meat markets. 

" There are in town twenty-five pianos, organs, and melodeons. one knitting 
machine, forty sewing machines, one photograph gallery, two milliners, and 
three dress-makers. There are in the township three wealthy, influential, 
religious societies, with seven pastors or clergymen. Each congregation has 
a well-regulated choir. There is one thriving Good Templars' Lodge, one 
town hall (called Rogers Hall), and ten school-houses. The independence 
and wealth of our people is largely with the farming community." 

A Farmers' and Mechanics' Association was organized some 
years ago. 

Brooklyn was awake, in comparatively good season, to tlie im- 
portance of the temperance movement, and to the interests of 
the slave. 

E. L. Paine, son of Edward, is said by some to have been the 
first merchant, and to have sold out to James Noble. Succeed- 
ing merchants were as follows: George M. Gere, Betts, F. 

W. Bailey, James Jackson, S. W. Breed, E. T. Ashley, Edwin 
Tiffany, O. A. Eldridge, Eobert Eldridge, O. G. Hempstead, 

E. McKenzie, Amos Nichols, James Smith, C. Eogers, Foot, 

D. A. & A. Tittsworth. 

Justices of the peace, appointed: Edward Packer, Dr. Samuel 
Bissell, James Noble, Abel Hewett, Marvin L. Mack, Ebenezer 
Gere. 

Elected : Amos G. Bailey, E. 0. Miles, Amos Tewksbury 
(declined), E. A. Weston, G. B. Eogers. [Abel Hewett was 
elected and re-elected as long as he lived in Brooklyn.] 

Physicians : Mason Denison, a native of Vermont, educated 
at Dartmouth College, removed to Mo,ntrose in 1813 ; married 
Wealthy, daughter of Walter Lathrop. Mrs. Edmund Baldwin 
is the only one of the children now in the county. Samuel 
Bissell, E."B. Slade, Enoch Mack, Palmer Way, B. Eichardson, 
Wm. L. Eichardson (1841), and Doctors Meacham, Chamberlin, 
Blakeslee, and Ainey. 

RELIGIOUS. 

In 1804, the Hopbottom settlement was visited by Morris 
(James?) Howe and Eobert Burch, preachers in Wyoming cir- 
cuit, who formed a Methodist class of four members: Jacob 
Tewksbury and wife, Mrs. Tracy (afterwards Mrs. Miles), and 
Silas Lewis. [In the History of Early Methodism, by Dr. 
Peck, Mrs. Joshua Saunders is mentioned as one of the four; 
but it is said she did not join until several years later.] The 
circuit embraced Wayne and Luzerne, including what are now 
Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wyoming counties. 



138 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In 1806, Christopher Frye, who is described as "rough as a 
meat-ax," was on this circuit. The first class-leader was Nicho- 
las Horton, who lived ten miles below Brooklyn Center. Upon 
his resignation on account of the distance, Frazier Eaton, only 
six miles away, was appointed leader, and was accustomed to 
fulfil his appointments barefooted. After him, Jacob Tewks- 
bury was the leader until about 1809, when Edward Paine 
came to the place, received and retained the leadership, until 
he began to preach. Mr. Paine was, for many years, "the 
life of the Methodist Society." His wife was an efficient 
helper. While Mr. Frye was here, there was a rapid increase 
of members, among whom were several of the Bagleys, Tewks- 
burys, Saunders, Worthings, and others. A daughter of Jacob 
Tewksbury, Mrs. Garland, was a member for sixty years pre- 
ceding her death in 1868. 

In 1812, Kev. Elisha Bibbins was on the circuit. He had 
appointments "at Crowfoot's (Josiah Crofut), within eight miles 
of Great Bend, thence (via Hopbottom?) to Springville, or 'the 
little Beechwoods,' thence to Lyman's settlement, thence to 
Meshoppen, next to Brain trim, and from thence up the Tusca- 
rora Creek into the neighborhood of Father Coggswell's " — in 
Auburn. 

" Hoppingbottom" was a name given, by outsiders, to the 
settlement on the Hopbottom — the ing being inserted to illus- 
trate the leaping and shouting by which the Methodists then 
exhibited their spiritual joy. A revival continued here through 
the year. 

The houses then afforded so little privacy that persons were 
accustomed to retire into the woods to pray. A gay hunter 
declared that they frightened the deer away, and that he came 
upon praying people everywhere. 

In 1813, Bridgewater circuit was formed, John Hazard and 
Elijah Warren, preachers. " Hopbottom was the centre of the 
circuit, and gave tone to the whole." In 1814, Wyatt Cham- 
berlin was one of the preachers; in September, 1816, a camp- 
meeting was held ; in 1817, Joshua and Caroline Miles sold 
land, twelve by six perches, for $15, for the erection of a house 
of worship ; in 1818, Edward Paine was licensed to preach, and 
in 1819 he occupied the circuit with George Peck (now the 
Rev. Dr. Peck, of Scranton). The latter says : — 

"Methodism had long been in existence in this region of country; but 
still it had to dispute every inch of ground. The class in Hopbottom had 
been diminished and weakened by removals, and here we met with active 
hostility from Old School Presbyterians and Universalists. Elder Davis 
Dimock (Baptist) was firmly intrenched in his stronghold at Montrose, and 
from that point spread himself as widely as possible in all directions ; and 
wherever he came he was sure to strike a blow at Methodism. In spite of 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 139 

opposing elements, we had seals to our ministry. There was a rising in the 
church at all points." 

Eespecting his companion in the circuit, Dr. Peck says : — 

"Edward Paine, a native of Connecticut, was born in 1777, of pious 
parents, and was converted when fourteen years old ; at fifteen, he joined 
the Baptist, and afterward the Methodist, church. About the time he came 
to Hopbottom he was licensed to exhort, and was soon licensed as a local 
preacher. After several years he began to be exercised about the itinerancy. 
At home, he possessed a good living, was highly esteemed by all his neigh- 
bors, was honored with the office of justice of the peace (the first justice of 
the town of Waterford, as Brooklyn was then called), was strongly attached 
to his family, but he resolved to sacrifice all for the'church of God." 

Edward P. was drowned, in 1820, Avhile bathing near Owego, 
N. Y. He Avas on his way to Conference in Canada. His 
widow married Jesse Eoss, and removed to Oshkosh, Wis., 
where she died in 1870. 

Other early prominent ministers and presiding elders in this 
section were, Geo. Lane, Loring Grant, Benjamin Bidlack, Gid- 
eon Draper, John Kimlin, Noah Bigelow, Wm. Brown, George 
Hermon, and Marmaduke Pierce. It is said of Father Bidlack 
that " he preached much against dress. On one occasion, he told 
his hearers if they should see a fox-hole, and a fox's tail hang- 
ing out of it, they would say there was a fox in it ; so, hats 
and bonnets, all covered with feathers and ribbons, showed 
there was pride in the heart." 

The Methodists had held their meetings, until 1809, at the 
house of Jacob Tewksbury, and from that time at Edward 
Paine's, until about 1813, when they erected the frame of the 
first house of worship in the town. As soon as it was inclosed, 
they put in a temporary pulpit, placed boards across the joists 
for seats, in comfortable weather, and here many delightful 
seasons were enjoyed. The building was taken down in 1830, 
and a new one built near its site, by Joshua Miles, Jr. This, 
in 1867, was remodeled at an expense of $4000, a cupola and 
bell being added. 

The church membership now numbers about 200. 

The first public religious services of the New-Englanders of 
the Hopbottom settlement were held by Congregationalists, 
among whom Joshua Sabin was prominent in 1799. After the 
arrival of Jacob Tewksbury, and the formation of the Metho- 
dist class, all 'united in public worship several years. 

"Eev. Wm. Purdy, a Baptist, preached frequently at Hop- 
bottom as early as 1808 ; and went from there over the hills to 
'Nine Partners' to Elkanah Tingley's, a 'Baptist Tavern' stilll 
(1863), and over rugged ridges through the Elkwoods." A 
Baptist church was never organized in Brooklyn. 

August 7th," 1810, the "Second Congregational Church of 
Bridgewater" was organized with the following members: 



140 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Joshua Miles, Noah Tiffany, Olney Tiffany, Josiah Lord, 
Eleazar French, Mary Miles, Patty Gere, Nancy Howard, Betsey 
Mack, Mary Lord. Elizabeth Whitney, Phebe Wilkinson. 

The first two of the above were the first deacons of the 
church. 

In 1811 and '12, Rev. Joseph Wood, pastor of the First Con- 
gregational Church of Bridgewater, also officiated here a part of 
the time. About 1813 or '14, a young man by the name of 
Treat preached here for a time, and several members were added 
to the church, including Jacob Wilson and Cyril Giddings, who 
were afterwards elected as deacons, upon the deaths of Deacons 
Miles and Tiffany. A few others joined the church at intervals 
prior to 1818; in this year forty-seven were added, under the 
labors of Rev. M. M. York, a home missionary, who was with 
the church three months, and Rev. G. N. Judd, of Montrose, 
who came here July, 1818, and preached one-fourth of the time, 
for about two years. Among the additions of 1818, were " hon- 
orable women not a few," whose lives have been a blessing to 
the township, of whom Mrs. Stephen Breed, now in her 87th 
year, is the only survivor. 

In 1823, the form of government was changed to Presby- 
terian. In 1825, the name of the church, after being called by 
the successive names of the township — Bridgewater, Waterford, 
and Hopbottom — became what it is at present, the Presbyterian 
Church of Brooklyn. 

In the mean time, Rev. Mr. Judd had twice visited the church, 
after his removal from this section; and additional members had 
been received. 

Rev. B. Baldwin labored as a missionary in Brooktyn a short 
time, and preached the sermon at the dedication of the first 
Presbyterian church-edifice, November 6th, 1829. In the fol- 
lowing month, Rev. Sylvester Cooke commenced his labors 
here, and continued them fourteen years, " beloved by all who 
knew him." In 1844 he removed to Deckertown, New Jersey, 
where he still resides. While a resident of Brooklyn, he be- 
came the father of five sons, all of whom were in service against 
the late Rebellion. One of them, General Edwin F. Cooke, re- 
cently died in Chili, while serving as Secretary of Legation of 
the United States to that government. 

Rev. 0. Fraser succeeded Mr. Cooke at Brooklyn, remaining 
three or four years, when Mr. Baldwin resumed his missionary 
labors, preaching here half of the time for three years. Revs. 
Mr. Shaffer and Edward Allen filled the interim till 1858, when 
Rev. Wm. H. Adams came and remained ten years. Rev. George 
Spaulding, the present pastor, came in 1868. The church has 
about 50 members. A new house of worship was completed 
and dedicated January, 1872. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



141 



Mr. and Mrs. Judd organized a Sabbath-school as early a3 
1819. This was not long kept up, but a re-organization was 
effected in 1826 or '27 (J. W. Raynsford, Esq., assisting), and is 
still in operation. 

UNIVERSALIST. 

Eev. Barzillai Streeter, of Massachusetts, while on a visit to 
his brother, Dr. Streeter, of Harford, in 1820, was the first 
Universalist preacher in Brooklyn. The society of that denom- 
ination was not formed here until about 1822, after the arri- 
val of Rev. Amos Crandall. It belonged to the Chenango 
Association, which met here for the first time, September, 
1824. 

Mr. Crandall died, " much lamented," July 2d, 1824. Yery 

Fijr. 14. 




OLD UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 



soon afterwards, the corner-stone of the " Universalian " or 
"Liberal" meeting-house was laid with Masonic ceremonies, 



142 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

and the building was inclosed the same year. Upon its com- 
pletion it was dedicated, November 17, 1825, Kev. C. E. Marsh, 
from Vermont, officiating. Previous to this, the meetings of 
the society had been held in school-houses, private dwellings, 
and sometimes in a grove. Mr. Marsh, a young man of much 
promise, continued preaching here until prostrated by sick- 
ness. He died March 10, 1828, and was buried with Masonic 
honors, as was also his predecessor, and both rest side by side 
near the church, on Mclntyre Hill. 

The following is copied from the original minutes of the 
societ}' - : — 

" At a meeting held at the Universalist meeting-house in Brooklyn, on the 
17th of December, 1826, proposals were made at the aforesaid time, to com- 
mence the formation and organization of a church, and those who felt willing 
were called upon at this time to manifest their wishes upon this subject, and 
the following named persons did present themselves at the above meeting, to 
wit : Charles R. Marsh, Brs. James Smith, Rufus Kingsley, Amos Bailey, 
Esek H. Palmer, Freemond Peck. Joshua K. Adams, James L. Cray, 
Frederick Bailey. Sisters, Annis Smith, Lucinda Kingsley, Prudence Bailey, 
Betsey Chapman, Almira Wright. Therefore the above-named brothers and 
sisters would invite others who feel firm in the faith of God's universal good- 
ness and grace, and who feel determined so to conduct themselves, as to tie 
instrumental in the good cause of the Redeemer— to come forward and unite 
with us on Sabbath-day, the 31st of January next, for the purpose of further 
organizing and consolidating said church, and those who cannot conve- 
niently attend at said meeting, are desired to place their names, as well as 
others, to this paper— that we may ascertain our numbers, etc. Brooklyn, 
December 18th, 1826." 

This appears to have been only a renewed society organiza- 
tion, as the church was not organized until July 5th, 1868, 
under the present pastor, Eev. H. Boughton. It has now (1871) 
forty-nine members. " Church members are those only who 
sign the Declaration, Constitution, and Laws of the Denom- 
ination, and who are received according to the forms for 
admission of members. Baptism is conferred upon those only 
who desire it, but the Lord's Supper is an ordinance regularly 
observed in all Universalist churches as in others. A Sabbath- 
school of sixty scholars is connected with the church. 

A subscription is raised, and a lot purchased, for a new 
church-edifice to be erected at Brooklyn Center; after which 
the old one will be taken down. 

The Universalist ministers of Brooklyn from 1828 to 1867 
were : Revs. George Rogers, Alfred Peck, Thomas J. Crowe, 
T. S. Bartholomew, James R. Mack, J. B. Gilman, A. O. War- 
ren, N. Doolittle, and L. F. Porter. These, with those before 
mentioned, include nearly or quite all the ministers of this de- 
nomination who have been located in the county. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 143 



CHAPTER XI. 

NEW MILFORD. 

This township was established August Sessions, 1807, by 
Luzerne County Court. Its boundaries were described thus: — 

"Beginning at the turnpike road on the south line of Willingborough, 
thence west' along said line to the east line of Lawsville, thetice south one 
mile and a half, thence west to the extent of five miles from said turnpike, 1 
thence south to the north line of Nicholson township, thence east to Wayne 
County line, thence north along said county line to the southeast corner of 
Willingborough, thence west along the south line of Willingborough to the 
place of beginning." 

Besides its present territory, it then included all of what is 
now Jackson and Thomson, and a part of Ararat. It was re- 
duced to its present limits by the erection of Jackson (then 
extending east to Wayne County), in 1815. 

It is thought the name New Milford was given to the town- 
ship in honor of N. Milford, Connecticut. Although Willing- 
borough, for several years, had practically extended over the 
original area of New Milford, its southern line is nowhere 
officially described (except as that of a justice's district) lower 
than six miles from the State line ; and thus, though the 
records do not state the fact, New Milford must have been 
taken from old Tioga township, since the strip between Nichol- 
son and Willingborough had not been apportioned to a new 
township until 1807, though a petition for New Milford had 
been made two years earlier. 

High hills and narrow valleys, with the exception of the 
valley of the Salt Lick Creek, mark the township which still 
exhibits well cultivated, richly productive, and excellent dairy 
farms. Quite a large number of sheep are raised. Next to 
grass, rye and oats are the heaviest crops. Beech, birch, maple, 
pine, and hemlock constitute the principal timber of the town- 
ship. Some of the best land is on the ridges where the hard 
maple grows. There are very few oaks or elms in the town- 
ship, and very little chestnut timber. Corn does better than 
formerly. 

The south line of the township passes through the middle 
one of the three lakes, the upper lake being wholly north of it. 

1 On the large county map, the west line of the township is not marked more 
than three and a half miles west of the turnpike. 



114 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

These lakes are the source of one of the principal branches of 
Martin's Creek. 

Hunt Lake, about two miles east of the upper lake, is the 
chief source of Nine Partners' Creek, which passes through 
Harford. 

Corse's Lake, or, as now known, Page's Pond, and the largest 
sheet of water in the township (covering about one hundred 
acres), is near the west line of Jackson. These lakes furnish 
fine water power for various mills and factories. 

The larger part of Heart Lake 1 is within the west line of 
New Milford. 

In the northeastern part of the township the outlet of East 
Lake forms, with that of Page's Pond, a large tributary to the 
Salt Lick. The sources of the latter and of Martin's Creek 
are within a few rods of each other, and this point is the sum- 
mit of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Eailroad — 
the two valleys furnishing a natural road-bed from Great Bend 
south across the county. 

It is stated that Jedediah Adams came from Great Bend, in 
1789, and did the first chopping in New Milford, whilst accom- 
panying the surveyors of a Philadelphia landholder. He and 
his wife occupied a cabin on the flat, near the present site of 
the Eagle Hotel. They returned to Great Bend in the fall of 
1790. 

A hunter and trapper by the name of De Vough, or De Vaux, 
lived about the same time, in a bark shanty, which is said to 
have been the first dwelling in New Milford. It stood on the 
site of the residence of the late Wm. 0. Ward, Esq., but the 
old well of the hunter was across the present road, near the 
hotel. 

In 1790, Eobert Corbett, with his family, was located on the 
Flat vacated by the hunter, and may be considered the first settler 
there. He came from near Boston, through the agency of Mr. 
Cooper, of Cooperstown, New York. 

In 1799, a road was granted from his house to Solomon Mil- 
lard's, in Nicholson (now Lenox). In 1801, he was taxed as 
"innkeeper," but must have left soon after, with his sons, Sewell 
and Cooper, for the mouth of Snake Creek — now Corbettsville. 
His son Asaph appears to have remained, as, in 1802, he was 
one of the assessors for Willingborough district, and, not far 
from this time, probably, built the first framed house in New 
Milford, on land now the garden of Henry Burritt. It was re- 
moved, 3'ears since, to the bank of the creek ; and now, after 

1 There is an uncertainty as to the origin and orthography of this name, the 
general impression being that the lake, in shape, resembles the human heart. 
Another authority states that it was named after Jacob Hart, who lived in the 
vicinity. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 145 

seventy years, so sound are its timbers, it forms a part of the 
residence of Charles Ward. It had been the temporary home 
of several early settlers. Cooper Corbett, now of Binghamton, 
was born in New Milford, and is nearly or quite eighty-two 
years old. He is positive that his father was preceded by Mr. 
Adams in the occupancy of the flat. 

Benjamin Hayden came in, single, March, 1794, and began a 
clearing, where, years afterward, he kept a tavern; the site of 
which is occupied by the residence of his grandson, William 
Hayden. 

He married Ruby Corbett, a daughter of the pioneer. They 
had but one son, Warner, named after a son of Robert Corbett. 
Warner Corbett died March, 1795, at the age of seven years, 
and his remains are interred in the New Milford cemetery, near 
the Eagle Hotel. The stone that marks the spot appears to 
bear the oldest date of any interment there. 

Benjamin H. died in 1842, aged 67. A contemporary wrote 
of him: " So long as probity and virtue have advocates, the 
memory of Mr. Hayden will be revered." His widow, Ruby, 
died in 1849, aged 70. 

Warner Hayden married, in 1815, Sally, daughter of Andrew 
Tracy, Esq., who brought his family to what is now Brooklyn 
township, early in 1799. When they reached New Milford, 
Mr. Benj. Hayden, with his ox-team, helped them through Har- 
ford, as their horses were pretty well tired out with the rough 
journey from Connecticut — 28 days in all. At Martin's Creek 
they were met by Mr. Joseph Chapman, who conducted them 
to their new home, carrying in his arms the infant who was 
destined to become the mother of the eight "Hayden brothers;" 
five of whom reside in New Milford, one in New York, and two 
are deceased. 

Warner Hayden was a saddler, and an enterprising man, 
keeping up establishments in two or three towns at the same 
time, and very successful. He died in 1850, aged 52. His 
widow is still living in New Milford. 

David Summers settled in New Milford, two months later 
than Mr. Hayden. He had passed through this section in the 
fall of 1793, and secured a cabin which had been erected by 
some one (possibly one Smith, or a hunter by the name of 
Houck), on the spot, in Summersville, now occupied by his 
son James (now over eighty years of age). To this place, in 
May, 1794, he brought his wife and five sons: Eli, Calvin, 
David, James, and Ira; the youngest being then an infant. 
The spring was so far advanced that he could not have a gar- 
den that season on his own place, but cultivated one on Mr. 
Hayden's clearing, a mile and a half away ; but Mrs. S. would 
run up there, after her morning's work was done, for garden- 
10 



146 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

sauce for dinner, and still do her day's work at spinning or 
weaving. The woods that lay between were then frequented by 
deer, bears, wolves, and panthers ; but were the path the smooth- 
est of roads, with no peril from wild beasts, as it is now, the 
woman of the present day could hardly compete with the pio- 
neer matron in energy, and in the endurance of so many priva- 
tions. David S. was originally from Fairfield County, Conn. 
He left there, in 1787, for Durham, Greene County, N. Y., and 
remained at the latter place until his removal to New Milford. 
Here he was an innkeeper in 1801; and, many years later, 
the hotel of his son Calvin, on the same spot, kept up the fame 
of its excellent table. Mr. Summers lived here to the close of 
his life, April, 1816. His age was 55. Mrs. S. survived him 
until 1844, dying at the age of eighty-four. She had lived just 
fifty years on the same farm. 

Of their sons, David died in 1831 ; Calvin in 1852, aged 
sixty-six; and Eli, the eldest, who had been a resident of Illi- 
nois some years, August, 1870, in his eighty-eighth year; Ira, 
the youngest, now nearly eighty, lives near the brother who 
occupies the homestead. 

In 1797, Samuel Hayden, father of Benjamin, was a super- 
visor of Willingborough. He lived nearer Great Bend than 
his son, but possibly not within the town limits. 

Three sons of Hezekiah Leach, viz., Hezekiah, Daniel, and 
Samuel, were in the vicinity of the Salt Lick at a ver}^ early 
day ; Daniel is mentioned on the records of Luzerne County, 
April, 1799, as a settler south of Eobert Corbett on the old 
road to Great Bend from Mount Pleasant. This road, after 
passing Capt. Potter's in what is now Gibson, and soon after 
touching the old Brace Eoad (probably at Gibson Hollow), was 
made to run " thence to David Hamilton's, thence to Daniel 
Hunt's, thence to Daniel Leach's, thence nearly north to Salt 
Lick, thence to Eobert Corbett's, thence 6 miles to the ferry at 
Great Bend." 

It is not certain that Hezekiah Leach, Sr., came in at that 
time, but he spent many years in New Milford, and died there 
in 1823, at the age of 83 years. He was one of the patriots of 
the Eevolutionary Army. 

If Daniel Hunt was located, as we may suppose, near Hunt 
Lake, he must have left within a short time afterward. He 
married a daughter of Eobert Corbett. 

Hezekiah Leach, Jr. (or Capt. Leach), also married a daughter 
of Eobert Corbett, and was a prominent member of the com- 
munity. A sketch of his location, etc., written from informa- 
tion given by his son, George Leach, is copied from the Mon- 
trose ' Bepublican ' : — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 147 

"Among the once notable taverns on the Great Bend and Ooshecton 
Turnpike — a section of that great thoroughfare, the old Newburg Turnpike 
— was one a mile south of New Milford village, at the cross-roads and forks 
of a branch of Salt Lick Creek. To a person standing on the high hills 
south of this junction, parts of New York State are visible through the val- 
ley stretching directly north to Great Bend. At the foot of this hill, on a 
fine meadow, was the greatly frequented public house of Hezekiah Leach. 
Mr. Leach came to the place from Litchfield Co., Conn., about the close of 
the last century, on horseback, bearing, besides his gun and other ' no- 
tions,' a sixteen-pound trap, of which he afterwards made good use. 

"He took up some three hundred acres of land, which he greatly improved. 
He died January 1, 1840, aged 66, and his large family are now scattered 
from Boston to California. The land passed to Secku Meylert, Esq.. and is 
now owned by Nathan Fish and Robert Gillespie, who have removed a part 
of the old house, and demolished the sheds, so that the place is no longer 
adapted to public accommodation. The present generation can little realize 
the* number of emigrants and the amount of heavy transportation upon this 
road before canals and railroads came to the relief of oxen and horses, and 
entirely diverted travel from many of its accustomed channels. From New- 
burg and other eastern points, to the Lake country in New York and else- 
where westward, there was such a throng of travelers, that, even among that 
comparatively sparse population, several public houses were required where 
but one is now kept. 

" In those days timber was plentiful, and the people got rid of much of it 
by working what they could into their buildings, which were certainly very 
strong. Mr. Leach put up a very large dwelling, and, on the opposite side 
of the road, corresponding barns. My informant was born on the spot, in 
1802, and his earliest recollections were those of travelers, from year to year, 
filling the house from garret to bar-room ; and of a cellar stored with liquors 
and eatables in their season, while the long sheds were crowded with horses 
and vehicles. Customers were moving at all hours, coming in until midnight, 
while others, long before daylight, at the summons, ' Hurrah, boys ! we must 
be off again,' were starting away. On a rainy day, or when work was slack, 
crowds of men and boys would gather to pitch quoits, or play various games 
of skill and strength. Balls, sleigh-rides, and parties were frequent in win- 
ter. Whiskey was as common — and almost as much imbibed by most per- 
sons — as water. It was deemed an absolute necessity, on many occasions, 
where it is now disused. Liquors were then much purer than they now are, 
yet many a strong, good-hearted, useful man, through their seductive in- 
fluences, came to poverty, disease, and death. 

" Fish and wood-game were plentiful in early times. Mr. Leach was ac- 
customed to say that during his residence here, he had killed 548 deer, 61 
black bears, 1 white bear, 11 wolves, and 1 panther, besides wild cats and 
lesser game never counted. The ' white bear,' killed at Hunt Lake, was 
rather of a very light straw color ; the skin was sold to a Judge Woodward, 
somewhere near Cooperstown." 

Benjamin Doolittle, from Connecticut, was a taxable of Wil- 
lingborough, for 600 acres, in 1799, but is not mentioned as a 
resident before December, 1801. He was located nearly one 
and a half miles west of the present Eagle Hotel. His wife 
was Fanny, daughter of Ichabod Ward, who came later. Their 
children were Nelson, Albert, George, Harry, Benjamin, and 
Lydia. Mr. Doolittle moved to Ohio many years ago. 

John Foot, a shoemaker, was " a new-comer" on the tax-list, 
December, 1801. He lived next west of Mr. Doolittle. He 



118 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

came from Vermont with his wife and three children — Timothy, 
Belus, and Amanda. Belus died in New Milford in 1841. 
His son Edwin was the first (1842) Daguerrean artist in Mon- 
trose. 

It is probable that Nathan Buel and Peter Davis came in 
1801. Josiah Davis, father of the latter, was in Lawsville. 
Mr. Buel then had two children — Arp'haxed and Polly, after- 
wards Mrs. Leighton. 

John Hawley was here as early as November, 1802. He 
was elected one of the overseers of the poor of Lawsville in 
1804, though his location was within a mile of the Salt Lick. 
Hezekiah Leach was, the same year, a supervisor of Willing- 
borough, though, certainly, three miles below the line of that 
town as recorded in 1791 and 1793. Both were in the same 
justice's district, which, from 1801 to 1806, extended from the 
State line, and included Lawsville and Nicholson, as Avell as 
Willingborough. These remote townships of Luzerne were 
little known at the county seat. Some of the inhabitants of 
Nicholson and Willingborough were placed in either at differ- 
ent times, as, for instance, " S. Hatch, taverner in Nicholson ;" 
and "Abel Kent, Wright Chamberlin, and Hosea Tiffany, tav- 
erners in Nicholson and Willingborough." 

Mr. Hawley lived less than half a mile east of Mr. Doolittle. 
" He, being a widower, had married a widow, and she had two 
daughters by her first husband, whose names were Merab and 
Koxanna Andrews. His sons were John (well known in later 
days as Deacon Hawley), Uriah, and Newton ; his daughters 

were who married Elias Carpenter, of Harford (then 

the Nine Partners), and Betsey, who married Bel'us Foot, and 
lived all her life in the neighborhood." 

Deacon Hawley died in 1866, aged 84 ; Merab, his wife, in 
1830, aged 55 ; Phebe, his widow, in 1869, aged 83. 

Christopher Longstreet, from New Jersey, may have been in 
earlier than 1803, since he bought out Eobert Corbett, who 
appears to have left a year or two before this date ; but at pre- 
sent nothing positive can be asserted of Mr. Longstreet's pre- 
sence here until that time. 

Mrs. Longstreet died in 1813 ; and, soon after " Col." Long- 
street removed to Great Bend. " Old Prince," a colored man, 
who came in with them, remained in New Milford until his 
death, July, 1815. Like " Prince Perkins," of Brooklyn, he 
seems to have been quite noted in his day. 

There were probably other settlers of 1803. Early in 1804, 
at least, Cyrenius Storrs, Job Tyler and family, and Joseph 
Sweet and family, were on the main road southeast from Cap- 
tain Leach. Some of the posterity of the first named remain 
in the township. 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 149 

Colonel Job Tyler (from Harford) had three children : Jared, 
now in Harford, but until recently in New Milford ; Nancy, 
wife of Francis Moxley, on the Tyler homestead ; and another 
daughter, Mrs. Brewster Guile of Harford. He was " an ex- 
cellent farmer," public spirited, and quite widely known. He 
died in 1857, aged 77. 

Joseph Sweet's farm was afterwards Jonas B. Avery's. 

The substance of the following sketch was kindly communi- 
cated to the compiler in personal interviews with Seth Mitchell, 
Esq., but subsequently (Jan. 1872) some other listener prepared 
it for the * Montrose Republican,' from which it is taken. 

" Seth Mitchell was bora in Roxbury, Litchfield County, Conn., April 9th 
1785. Left an orphan at eight years of age, his boyhood was passed in hard 
labor and service, with very small opportunity for schooling, the nearest 
school being nearly two miles distant. When seventeen years old he worked 
one winter for his board and attended school, acquiring sufficient knowledge 
of arithmetic to enable him to transact all ordinary business. I have known 
him to beat good accountants in computing interest, both as to speed and 
correctness — and this when past threescore and ten. In 1804, when 19 years 
old, he came with Mr. Benjamin Doolittle to New Milford, Susquehanna 
(then Luzerne) County, and worked for him that summer, returning on foot 
to Roxbury in December. The next spring, 1805, he came again to New 
Milford, and bought 100 1 acres, being a part of what was long known as the 
' Mitchell farm.' At this time, excepting two families, his nearest neighbors 
were distant six miles, south and west, the log house of Esq. Hinds being 
the only dwelling in Montrose, and there were no roads through the woods 
— even cut out. This season he worked two days in a week for his board, 
and two days more to get a yoke of oxen to use two days for himself, in this 
way clearing and sowing five acres, and returning to Roxbury in the autumn. 
In the spring of 1806 he came ' west' again, his brother Nathan coming with 
him and buying a lot adjoining. This summer he cleared and sowed eight 
acres more, going back east again at the approach of winter. In 1807 he 
came 'west' the fourth time, driving a yoke of cattle. Enlarging his clear- 
ing still more, he returned again to Roxbury to spend the winter. The spring 
of 1808 found him again early at his ' western home.' This season, besides 
clearing and fencing more land, he built a log house and frame barn, again 
going east in December to spend the winter. In February, 1809, he was 
married, and one week afterwards started ' west' to prepare his log mansion 
for his bride. In June next he returned to Roxbury and moved his family 
(wife) with a few necessary house-keeping articles, to their home in the woods 
of what was then 'the great west.' In 1815 he built a large frame house, 
which is still standing, and is at present owned and occupied by Mr. Ezra 
Beebe, nearly three miles west of what is now New Milford Borough. During 
these years and afterward he gradually added to his farm, until it finally 
numbered 470 acres. Three times he made the trip from Roxbury to New 
Milford on foot, twice driving before him a yoke of oxen, and twice he footed 
it from New Milford to Roxbury, carrying his clothes and provisions on his 
back, some of the way breaking his own path through snow knee deep. The 
distance was about 170 miles. At the age of 23 he was elected captain of 
a company raised in New Milford and Lawsville, having risen from the ranks. 
His commission was for four years. He afterwards served as justice of the 



' He bought of the landholder Bound or Bowne. The Wallace estate joined 
that, and was principally in old Bridgewater (including Brooklyn). 



150 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

peace ten years. The few old settlers who are now living still call him Cap- 
tain or Esq. Mitchell. His wife dying, he married again in 1837, but has 
been the second time a widower for nine years. By his first wife he had 
eight children, five of whom are now living. He has cleared over 300 acres 
of land, and built more than 700 rods of stone wall — has built one log and six 
frame dwellings — seven barns, besides two horse-barns, cattle sheds, out build- 
ings, etc. He has used no strong drink for the last forty-two years. He has 
been to the Mississippi River five times, once alone, after he was eighty-two 
years old. He is now nearly eighty-seven, with his faculties all well pre- 
served, and recently walked from his home to Montrose (two and a half 
miles) to attend meeting at the Baptist church, of which he has been an active 
member about fifty years. He acquired a handsome competence, wholly by 
hard labor and judicious economy. As an instance of how money was made 
in early times, he stated that he raised large crops of corn with which he 
fattened large numbers of hogs, and packing the pork, carted it to the lum- 
ber region on the head-waters of the Delaware River, a trip requiring three 
days, and selling it on long credit. Pork was then worth five dollars' and 
beef three dollars per cwt. Butter ten to twelve cents, and cheese five to 
six cents per pound." 

Seth Mitchell was supervisor of the township fourteen years. 
The following is clipped from his autobiography. 

" The first house that we stopped at when we came in, in 1804, was Cap- 
tain David Summers's. He lived in a log house at what is now Summers- 
ville. He had then just built a frame grist-mill, which was quite a large 
building for this region in those days. In that year, a ball was held in Sum- 
mers's mill, and was attended by the young people of New Milford, Great 
Bend, and Lawsville. There were about twenty-five couples present. The 
mill floor being smooth and the room large, it was a good place to dance. 
I attended. We had a very merry time. That mill was afterwards altered into 
a house, and became Summers's hotel — afterwards Barnum's — long famous 
for its good table, and much resorted to by young people and pleasure-seek- 
ers as Phinney's now is. 

"The turnpike had been lately finished from Newburgh to Mount Pleas- 
ant when I moved out in 1809, but it was not then built from Mount Pleas- 
ant to New Milford. 

" After living on the old farm about thirty years, I purchased an almost 
unimproved one, about three miles from Montrose, on Snake Creek, where I 
cleared up about fifty acres and built a house and barn." 

Since 1857, the home of Seth Mitchell, with but temporary 
interruptions, has been in Montrose ; and he is now (August, 
1872) the oldest man in the borough. Three of his sons, 
Thompson, Norman, and Charles, are dead. Norman was a 
much esteemed deacon of the Baptist Church ; his death oc- 
curred June, 1870. 

In the spring of 1805, Josiah Crofut and Joseph Gregory 
moved in from Connecticut ; and Seth Mitchell boarded with 
the former while he cleared five acres on his own land, which 
adjoined theirs. Provisions were scarce that summer, as every- 
thing had to be purchased at Great Bend. The large log-house 
was but half-floored below, and above there were only five 
boards, on which S. Mitchell's straw-bed was placed ; and to 
which he climbed by the log walls. Josiah Crofut died in 
1836, aged sixty-seven. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 151 

Seth and Nathan Mitchell boarded with Mr. Gregory in the 
summer of 1806. In 1807 Nathan moved into his own house, 
where he lived until his death, in 1816, at the age of thirty- 
five }rears. 

Wm. Rockwell came to the township in 1805. 

Asa Bradley came to New Milford about 1806. "He and 
his family were received by Deacon Hawley, with the hospi- 
tality common to those times, though he and his wife then 
occupied a small three-cornered room in his distillery, where 
they entertained Mr. Bradley and family, until a log-house 
could be built for them. Anxious to rid Deacon Hawley of 
their unavoidably burdensome company, they hurried into the 
new building before it was furnished with a more substantial 
door than a blanket. They took with them a pig, and put it 
into an inclosure attached to the house; but the first night 
they were awakened by its squealing, which sounded as if the 
animal were being taken off. In the morning they found it, 
some distance from the house, half devoured ; and around the 
pen were the tracks of a panther. The question arose, if the 
animal had not found the porker, what was to hinder the 
ravenous beast from entering the house for his supper? 

Freeman Badger had been in this vicinity prior to 1804, but 
had returned to Cheshire, Ct., and was not settled here before 
1806. He was a prominent man in the township. He had one 
son, Frederick, and two daughters. He died in 1855, aged 
seventy-two; his wife Mary, died five days after him, aged 
sixty-seven. His father, David, died herein 1885, aged eighty- 
six ; Mrs. D. Badger in 1828, aged seventy-five ; but the exact 
date of their coming has not been ascertained. 

About this time Nicholas McCarty bought the farm and 
tavern of Christopher Longstreet, and continued to keep a 
public house there until his death, in 1821. Situated at the 
junction of the Newburg Turnpike, with the road from Jack- 
son and Harmony to Montrose, it became a noted place; and 
"McCarty's Corners" served long as a landmark for travelers. 
The McCarty House has been kept as a public house by 
various tenants, from that day to this, being at present the 
Eagle Hotel. Mr. McC, like those who preceded him, received 
his license directly from the governor, who granted it on the 
recommendation of the Court of Luzerne County (to which 
Mr. M.'s petition had been made, indorsed in the usual way by 
respectable men of his neighborhood), and was granted, the 
first time, January, 1807. Though, "In the Name and by the 
Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," he might 
sell "Rum, Brandy, Beer, Ale, Cyder, and all other Spirituous 
Liquors," it was " provided" that he should not " suffer drunk- 
enness (!), unlawful gaming, or any other disorders." He had 



152 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

a son named Benjamin, and three daughters, one of whom 
married Isaac Warner ; another, John Boyle ; and another, a 
man named King, who removed to the West. 

Ichabod Ward came from Connecticut to Susquehanna 
County in 1807. He occupied a house near the site of the 
present residence of H. Burritt. and nearly opposite the Pres- 
byterian Church. A pear tree planted by his hand, and still 
flourishing, marks the spot. He was long an active member 
and faithful officer and deacon of the Presbyterian denomina- 
tion, and to him is due the honor of maintaining public religious 
services, in his own house, in the early days of the settlement 
— each alternate Sabbath uniting with the people of Lawsville 
in their neighborhood. He had two sons, William (who set- 
tled here in 1806, preceding his father one year), and Samuel 
much younger; and three daughters, Mrs. B. Doolittle, Mrs. 
Seba Bryant, and Mrs. Uriah Hawley. All, except the last 
named, removed, after some years, to Ohio and further west. 

His second wife, Mary, who came with him to this country, 
was the mother of Seth Mitchell, at whose house she died in 
1828, aged seventy -seven. Ichabod W. died four years earlier, 
and is buried in the village cemetery. His descendants, to the 
fifth generation, reside upon the land he helped to clear — an 
instance as rare as it is gratifying. 

William Ward, of Litchfield County, Conn., was encouraged 
to come to Pennsylvania by his brother-in-law, Benjamin Doo- 
little. In 1806 he married Sally Briggs, in Eoxbury, Conn., 
and came directly to this country. To the young bride this 
was, indeed, a wilderness, but she would not express her long- 
ing for the home she had left. She passed many hours, of the 
lonely first year, in watching her husband and assistants en- 
gaged in clearing the forest, from the identical spot now 
covered by the railroad depot and adjoining buildings. She 
little dreamed then of railroad and telegraph stations within 
sight from her door. The wonders of steam and electricity 
were then, indeed, not dreamed of by any one. 

The following year their first child — the late C. L. Ward, of 
Towanda, Pa. — was born. They named him after the friend 
they found in the wilderness — Christopher Longstreet. Soon 
after this, they removed from the log house — the pioneer's first 
home, the site of which is now covered by the residence of their 
grandson, William T. Ward — to the first frame dwelling in this 
part of the county, and since known as the Ward House. 

The late William C. Ward and two other sons were born in 
New Milford, previous to the removal of the family to Mt. 
Pleasant, where they remained a few years, and then returned 
to New Milford. In the mean time two daughters had been 
added to the family group ; to which came in succession another 
son, and a daughter who died young, and then three sons. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 153 

Ten children lived together for years in the old homestead, 
little able to realize, from the comforts surrounding them, what 
privations their parents had experienced. 

The following incident of pioneer life was related to the com- 
piler by the heroine herself: — 

"A large buck was one day chased by the hunter's dogs into Mr. Ward's 
clearing. Samuel Ward — then only a lad of twelve or fourteen years — who 
was living with his brother, seeing the animal stumble and fall, immediately 
sprang and caught him by the horns, at the same time calling to Mrs. Ward 
for assistance. Feeling her helplessness, but, with a true woman's courage 
and quickness of perception, realizing the dangerous position of her young 
brother-in-law, who was struggling to prevent the animal from regaining his 
feet, she. hastened to unwind the long-webbed garters she wore, and with 
them speedily succeeded in tying its legs until a neighbor, who happened to 
be in calling distance, reached them and cut the animal's throat." 

William Ward was commissioned a justice of the peace in 
1834. He was for many years in charge of and acting as agent 
for the DuBois Estate, also for the sale of the Meredith, Bing- 
ham, and Drinker lands, in which capacity he became widely 
known. A contemporary wrote of him thus: — 

"Few of the citizens of the valley of the Salt Lick have done more to de- 
velop the resources and contribute to the prosperity of Susquehanna County 
than William Ward. To great perseverance and untiring industry in the 
pursuit of business, he added the most unqualified kindness, ever extending 
to rich and poor a cheerful hospitality. He was one of our most valued 
citizens." 

He died in New Milford, October, 1819, aged 64. His widow 
afterwards married one of the pioneers of Bridgewater, Joseph 
Williams, since deceased. She is now (1871) 84 years old, and 
the sole survivor in New Milford of the settlers who came prior 
to 1810. She resides 1 in the old Ward homestead, where eight 
of her children were born. 

There seems to have been little accession to the settlement 
of New Milford during the five years succeeding 1807. 

The first entry on the Town Eecords, March 18, 1808, men- 
tions a town meeting at the house of John Hawley, when he and 
John Slater (here only a few years) were elected judges of elec- 
tions ; H. Leach, clerk ; Thomas Sweet and B. Doolittle, 
supervisors and constables. 

March 3, 1 09. — N. Buel, clerk; B. Hayden and J. Gregory, 
supervisors. 

[A list of ear-marks of sheep is the only further record until 
1814. An entire gap occurs from 1848 to 1860, and from Feb- 
ruary, 1866, to September, 1871.] 

About 1812, John Phinney came from Windham County, 
Conn., and settled on the hill west of the village. His father, 

i Died August 17, 1872. 



154 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Samuel, came in shortly after, with his wife, and died 

years later at Summersville. Mrs. Samuel Phinney's maiden 
name was Hyde; she escaped from Wyoming, at the time of 
the massacre. 

John Phinney died in 1867, aged 85; Lucretia, his wife, in 
1853, aged 66. The proprietor of the Eagle Hotel is their son. 

Gurdon Darrow came from Groton, Conn., May, 1812. He 
served in the war of 1812. Sally, his wife, died in 1864, 
aged 75. 

Thomas Sweet had a license, in 1812, to keep a tavern on the 
Newburgh Turnpike, not far from where the Baptists have 
their house of worship. He sold to Jonas B. Avery and re- 
moved to Harford. 

Military parades were frequent in the vicinity. At one time 
the firing of cannon shattered the window-panes of Mr. A.'s 
house. 

Jonas B. A. died in 1836, aged seventy; his wife in 1835, 
aged sixty-three. They had one son, Franklin N., commonly 
called Major Avery, who died in 1843, aged forty-seven ; his 
widow, Rosana, died in 1869, aged seventy-two. 

Ebenezer and Park W. Avery, brothers (of another family), 
from Groton, Connecticut, came in early and married sisters, 
the daughters of Jonas B. Avery. Ebenezer's farm is now oc- 
cupied by D. W. Moxley, and that of Park W. (who returned 
to Connecticut), by Andrew S. Roe. 

The taxables of New Milford, at the time Susquehanna 
County was officially organized, were sixty in number, besides 
non-resident landholders: Henry Drinker, Isaac .Wharton, 
Abraham Du Bois, Bobert Bound, Samuel Meredith, and 
Thomas Clymer. The highest resident-tax, in 1812, was upon 
a valuation of $2550. John and Uriah Hawley owned a saw- 
mill, and David Summers and son James another. 

Robinson Lewis (deacon), who died about 1858 at an advanced 
age, came from Groton, Connecticut, in 1813. He was a pillar 
of the Baptist interest in its early days. His widow survives 
him. 

Jacob Wellman, William Phinney, John Dikeman, John 
Belknap, and Titus Ives were taxables of 1813. All remained 
in the township many years. 

Jacob W. was a soldier of the Revolution. He died in 1830, 
aged ninety-one. His sons were John, Jacob, David, Berry, 
Hiram, and Calvin ; the last named being the only one living. 
He, as also descendants of the others, are in N. Milford. 

The first Scotch settlers were Daniel McMillen and Laflin (or 
Lauchlin) Mcintosh, who were also among the taxables of 
1813. During that year the court was petitioned to grant "a 
road from H. Leach's to Lauchlin Mcintosh's — near the Middle 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 155 

Lake. McFarley, McLoud, McKenzie, and others of Scotch 
birth, came in between the years 1814-17. William McKenzie 
lived where H. Burritt is now located. He died in 1827, aged 
seventy-six. 

John Wallace, a Scotch-Irishman, came in 1814, from Dela- 
ware County, New York, with his son-in-law, Thomas Walker. 

Ithamer Mott was taxed for land in 1813, but does not ap- 
pear to have been a resident when the assessment was made. 
In 1814 he was licensed to keep a tavern ; his house was near 
the top of one of the highest hills of the township, on the line 
of the Newburg Turnpike, and near the junction with it of the 
Philadelphia and Great Bend Turnpike. Mott's Hill is one a 
traveler could never forget, having once made the toilsome 
ascent, or dashed down from the summit in an old-fashioned 
stage-coach ; and even with all modern improvements in road 
and vehicle, there are few hills one would care less to encounter. 

Captain Thomas Dean, from Cornwall, Connecticut, in 1814, 
settled opposite Benjamin Hayden and remained in the town- 
ship, or in what is now the Borough of New Milford, until his 
death at the age of ninety-one, June 22, 1870. For several 
years preceding his death he had been deprived of his eyesight, 
but passed his last days peaceful!}' at the house of his daughter, 
the widow of Dr. Bingham. He had buried two wives. 

Jonathan Moxley came from Groton, Connecticut, in 1814. 
His father's name, Joseph Moxley, is on the Fort Griswold 
monument at Groton, among those slain by the British under 
the leadership of the traitor Arnold, in 1781. Jonathan served 
in an emergency in that contest, but was never regularly en- 
listed. He died in New Milford in 1849, aged eighty-four; his 
wife, Sally, in 1826, aged sixty-seven. Of their seven children, 
two are living — the twin brothers, Francis and Gurdon. The 
present Sheriff, William Tyler Moxley, is a son of Francis. 
Gurdon Moxley speaks of having raised thirty-nine and forty 
bushels of wheat to the acre. The Moxleys occupy large farms 
around the corners where the Baptist meeting-house and Mox- 
ley school-house are located. The meeting-house was finished 
in 1851, and such were the prices of labor and materials at the 
time, and the liberality of the neighborhood, that the cost of 
the building was but $1000. 

John and Alpine Pierce settled in the northwest corner of 
the township in 1815. 

" Tennant-town," in the southern part, retains the name of 
three brothers, Oliver, William, and Allen Tennant, and their 
half-brother, Benjamin, who leave a large posterity. Oliver T. 
was from Fisher's Island, in Long Island Sound; he came here 
in 1816, and died at the age of seventy-eight. William T. came 
from Shelter Island, Suffolk County, New York, in 1817, and 



156 ' HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

died at the age of seventy. Allen T. came from the same island 
in 1818; his first wife, Polly, died in 1833, aged fifty-four; his 
second wife, Camilla, 1853, aged seventy-four ; and Allen him- 
self, in 1858, aged eighty-two. Benjamin Tennant came in about 

1820, and moved westward some years since. 

In 1816, Silvanus Wade, a blacksmith; Joseph Paine, a 
tailor; Gaius Moss, a tanner; Chauncey B. Foot, a physician, 
and William Sabins, a shoemaker, were added to the commu- 
nity. The last named came from New Haven, Connecticut, 
with his wife and four children ; he remained in-New Milford 
until his death, at the age of ninety-one years, February, 1869. 
His widow is still living, aged ninety-one. They were married 
in 1803. 

Darius Bingham also came in 1816. His wife, Sally, died in 

1821, aged forty-seven. He was killed at the age of sixty, in 
1828, by the fall of a tree. Their son, Lemuel, for some time 
kept a public-house just north of Capt. Leach's, where the late 
Deacon Mackey died. 

Calvin and Gad Corse, Jason Wiswall, and Luther Mason 
were in New Milford about this time. 

In December, 1816, the population of the township as reported 
by the assessor was 461, the males being 29 in excess. 

Among the settlers of 1817, were Dr. L. W. Bingham (not 
the same family as above), John S. Hendrake, David G. Wilson 
(had a store), Stephen and Jacob Hart, Joseph Thomas (a store), 
Levi Page, and Enoch Smith. The last named remained here 
until his death, October, 1871, aged eighty. 

Dr. Bingham boarded at Wm. Ward's, and tended store for 
him until he established himself as a physician. He wielded 
the pen of a ready writer, of newspaper articles at least, as early 
as 1819. On all the public questions of the day, he appears to 
have had decided, outspoken opinions. In his profession he 
had an extensive practice to the close of life. 

Albert Moss came from Cheshire, Connecticut, in 1818, and 
engaged in business with his brother Gaius, and continues to 
reside in New Milford, enjoying the improvements that have 
been made in his day, and to which his own enterprise has 
contributed. 

Samuel Hammond came from Cheshire County, New Hamp- 
shire, and bought a farm near the south line of the county — 
the same on which his son, Lieutenant-Colonel Asa Hammond, 
now lives, and to which he came the following year. The son 
has cleared over one hundred acres here. The father died in 
New Milford, the day he was eighty-two years old. 

At this time (1819) William Ward kept a tavern as well as 
a store. Ira Summers had a clothing or fulling mill, and, soon 
after, an oil mill. 




^2*f^^^^- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 157 

Lincoln and Shubael Hall were here. Seth Mitchell kept an 
inn. 

The same year, John Boyle, a native of Ireland, came to New 
Milford, at the age of nineteen years. A newspaper writer 
says of him : — 

" His brain, industry, and energy were his capital. Men then worked 
hard for fifty cents per day and boarded themselves ; and for ox team and 
driver one dollar per day — the men living upon game, and blackberries in 
their season. This was then a wild lumber country, but no outlet to mar- 
kets. The market prices were — Lumber, clear Pine, . $7.50 per 1000 ; 
Wheat, $1.00 ; Rye, 50 cents ; Oats, 16 cents ; Butter, 10 cents ; and land 
worth from $2.00 to $3.00 per acre; and Pine Shingles, $1.50 per 1000. 

" The Newburg Turnpike was then the main road through this region, 
and remained so until the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad gave 
an outlet to the produce of the country. 

" Mr. Boyle, the Irish emigrant boy, afterwards became, by appointment 
of the governor, county surrogate for ten years, and by election of the peo- 
ple, in 1851, associate judge for five years; and by marriage, industry, and 
good management, became the possessor of a large amount of the land now 
within the borough limits of New Milford." 

He married a daughter of 1ST. McCarty. 

James B., his brother, a carpenter, came in later, and bought 
of Benjamin McCarty the place now occupied by his widow. 

He died in 1857, aged sixty. 

Many other worthy men and women of New Milford were 
doubtless among the arrivals prior to 1820, but no definite 
record of them (with one exception) has been furnished the 
compiler. The interest of the following sketch, it is believed, 
will justify its extended mention of foreign affairs: — 

Secku Meylert, born in the City of Oassel, Germany, December 24, 1784, 
was the son of Michael Meylert, a banker. He received a liberal education, 
and traveled extensively in Europe, spending two years in Paris during 
Bonaparte's early and brilliant career. Returning to his native city he ap- 
plied himself to business with his father, with whom he remained lor some 
years, and afterwards established himself in business as a banker in Cassel. 

When the French army entered Germany he was offered and accepted a 
position, for a short time, as an officer of the staff, and participated in sev- 
eral engagements. On June 14, 1807, he was seriously wounded at the 
battle of Friedland, having had two horses shot under him, and was left on 
the field for dead. 

After the affairs of Europe were settled by the victory of Waterloo, the 
old Elector of Westphalia was restored to power, he having promised to 
make concession to the people and to grant them a constitution. Mr. Mey- 
lert was one of those who believed in his promises and who favored his recall. 
The Elector, however, postponed the fulfilment of his word, and followed a 
reminder of his promise with exactions more rigorous, and a rule more 
tyrannical than before. 

During this period, Kotzebue, aided by other writers as unscrupulous if 
not as able as himself, in the secret service of Alexander of Russia, flooded 
Germany with publications in the interest of imperialism and opposed to 
free government. The people of Germany had been led to expect conces- 
sions on the pai't of their rulers, and anticipated the speedy establishment 
of representative systems. Now, however, the attempt to form liberal in- 



158 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

stitutions was ridiculed — every species of political amelioration was opposed, 
and a marked enmity was exhibited to the liberty of the press. 

Good and true men throughout all Germany felt that these influences 
must be opposed and counteracted, or the cause of free government would 
be lost. No organization, however, was then in existence to accomplish this 
except the secret associations of the students in the universities. These 
were utterly insufficient for the purpose, and indeed must themselves be con- 
trolled and directed by the counsel of mature minds. An organization was 
soon formed composed of some of the most enlightened and liberal men 
throughout Germany, to withstand this tide of imperialism, and to exert an 
influence in high places for constitutional government. Tn Westphalia, this 
organization was strong and powerful. So carefully, however, were its 
affairs conducted that its very existence was not even suspected. 

Before the plans of these associations were fully matured, a secret letter 
from Kotzebue to the Emperor of Russia was published, which so exasper- 
ated the students that it became difficult to control them and to moderate 
their wrath. One of their number, Karl Ludwig Sand, of the University of 
Jena, a young man of irreproachable character, but enthusiastic and fanati- 
cal, became impressed with an insane impulse to kill Kotzebue. For months 
he struggled to rid himself of this conviction, revealing it to no one, and at 
length went to Mannheim, and on the 19th of March, 1819, he assassinated 
Kotzebue in his own house, and then deliberately gave himself up and was 
subsequently executed. 

Thus from this foolish, criminal act, all plans for amelioration of Germany 
had to be abandoned. The excitement throughout the German States was 
intense. The rulers immediately commenced a vigorous investigation to 
ascertain if secret political associations existed, and the leaders of such asso- 
ciations quietly absented themselves for a time until the excitement should 
subside. Mr. Meylert, who was the treasurer of and a leader in the central 
and main association in Westphalia, and who had made himself peculiarly 
obnoxious to the Elector, because he had not hesitated to remind him of his 
promises and to ask for their fulfilment, went to Holland, whence he was 
advised by his friends to return, or at most to absent himself for a short time 
to Sweden or England, but, disgusted with tyranny, and hopeless for reforms, 
he decided to come to free America. 

In England, Mr. Meylert read the pamphlet of Dr. Eose of Silver Lake, 
then in circulation in Great Britain, which gave a glowing description of the 
fertility of the soil and advantages to persons emigrating, who should settle 
in Susquehanna County. This determined his destination. 

In the summer of 1819 he arrived, and purchased 50 acres of land in New 
Milford — 1^ miles from the present village — built a house and commenced 
clearing a farm. Unused to this kind of work, his progress was slow and 
his returns meagre. He added to his house a store, and kept a small stock 
of goods, but the country was thinly settled, money was scarce, and his sales 
were small. Some outside investments made by him proving unfortunate, 
the means which he brought with him soon wasted away. 

Seeking occupation better suited to his education, he taught school for a 
short time ; taught a class in the French language in Montrose, and was em- 
ployed for a considerable time by Mr. Thos. Meredith in business relating to 
his lands. 

In 1833 Mr. Meylert removed to Montrose, where he held the position of 
Clerk to the County Commissioners, and Deputy Register and Recorder. In 
1844 he returned to his farm in New Milford, which had been greatly increased 
by the purchase of adjoining farms, and there lived until his death, Dec. 30th, 
1849. During the later years of his life the agency of large lauded estates 
was placed in his hands, and before his death he had charge of nearly all the 
land estates belonsnnff to non-resident land owners in northeastern Penn- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 159 

sylvania. He had also purchased several bodies of wild land, and his New 
Milford farms then aggregated nearly 1000 acres. 

Mr. Meylert married Abigail, the eldest daughter of Deacon Amos Nichols, 
of Montrose, Feb. 11th, 1821. She is now living in Laporte, in this State. 
They had five sons and three daughters, all of whom are now living. 

Mr. Meylert was a highly educated man, being proficient in both ancient 
and modern languages, and excelling in mathematics. As a business man 
he was remarkable, having few equals in his capacity to transact business 
with great force, rapidity, and accuracy. He was an active member of the 
Baptist Church • a zealous Christian, kind and affectionate, and benevolent 
in every good work. He was a man of strict integrity and of great truthful- 
ness—positive in character, and stern and unyielding in the performance of 
his convictions of duty. 

The highest number of votes polled in New Milford, in 1814, 
was 19 : in 1830, 57 (at town elections). The population in 
1810, 78 ; 1820, 611 ; 1830, 1000. In 1844, the whole vote at 
Presidential election, 249. 

The first merchant in New Milford was, William Ward, in 
1815. Within the next five years three or four small stores 
were opened; one of which was kept by James Edmunds and 
Capt. Dean, in 1815 ; first, in one of the Hayden rooms, and 
afterwards in the red house at the lower end of the present 
borough. 

The second firm that had any permanence, was that of Grif- 
fing & Burritt, about 1821. The former was from Guilford, 
and the latter from Newtown, Conn. They dissolved in 1824, 
and kept separate establishments. 

Henry Burritt has been longer in the mercantile business 
than any man in Susquehanna County ; but, in several cases, 
the establishments of the fathers have been continued by the 
sons. 

In 1827 Warner Hayden opened a store. The firm name was 
afterwards Hayden & Ward, "merchants and innkeepers." 

In 1832 Wm. Ward and son were in partnership. 

John McKinstry opened a store in Summersville. This was 
afterwards kept by Summers & Scott, Summers & Sutphin, etc. 

Uriah C. Lewis was a practising physician in the township 
in 1828. 

The borough of New Milford was petitioned for, Aug. 1859. 
The petition included the following statement respecting the 
locality : — 

"It is a compact, regularly built, populous, and thriving bu- 
siness place, containing within its limits a railroad depot, two 
licensed hotels, two extensive tanneries, three churches, a large 
number of stores, shops, manufactories, and other business 
places, and private dwellings — the population and business 
steadily increasing." Decree of Court confirmed Dec. 1859. 

The petitioners were a majority of the freeholders within the 
boundaries given. 



160 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The north line of the borough consists of 84 perches on the 
north line of the Hayden farm ; the east line, 522 perches; the 
west line 527 perches ; and the south line 234 perches, or nearly 
three times as many as the north line. 

A newspaper writer, Jan. 1S70, furnished the following items: 

"The main street is a trifle over a mile in length, almost a dead level, and 
as straight as a ' bee line.' It is broad and well worked, with good side- 
walks on both sides of the road. Good-sized sugar-maple shade trees fence 
in the side-walks, from north to south, on both sides of the street; and the 
Park, in front of the Graded School and the Congregational Church, with 
graded and graveled walks, is shaded in like manner. The architecture of 
the buildings and grounds displays taste, refinement, modesty, neatness, and 
comfort, without the least appearance on the part of any one to over-reach, 
over-match, or over-display his neighbor. 

" The ' Union Mills'— grist and flouring mills, sawing, planing, sash, blinds, 
and doors, etc., are suspended for the present. There are three cigar manu- 
facturing establishments in the place, that carry on a large ' stroke of trade.' 
An iron foundry is energetically working its way into the confidence of the 
people. Two tanneries — one a ' custom establishment,' and the other a large 
manufacturing concern. It is now conducted by Messrs. Corbin & Todd, 
late of Ulster Co., N. Y., and successors to the Pratt Brothers. It now em- 
ploys from twelve to twenty men, uses from 2000 to 2500 cords of bark per 
year, at $5.00 per cord, and turns out from twenty to thirty thousand sides 
of sole leather per year. It is estimated that there is bark enough in the 
county to serve it for ten years yet — the proprietors owniug enough bark 
land to serve it four years. 

"A. B. Smith has a machine shop run by water-power. 

" One drug store, and only two doctors — L. A. Smith and D. C. Ainey, sup- 
plying the region for miles around — speak volumes for the health of the lo- 
cality. 

" Eight mercantile establishments offer to the surrounding country their 
various wares. This is exclusive of the cigar establishments, that keep 
Yankee Notions at both wholesale and retail. 

"With the exception of one store at Summersville, this is the market place 
for the whole township and parts of several adjoining townships. Besides 
the farming interests, there are in this township some dozen circular saw 
mills, each employing from twelve to twice that number of men, generally 
with families, all of whom seek family supplies from these stores. 

" One banking house — that of S. B. Chase & Co. 

" The public hall of the Eagle Hotel is used for lectures, concerts, and reli- 
gious services, as well as for merry-makings. 

" One printing office — that of the ' Northern Pennsylvania^.' " 

Another writer says : — 

" Our industrial interests, although in a newly settled region, begin to be 
felt as of some importance. From the 1st of June to the 1st of January, 
1870, our lumbermen shipped at this depot, 3,720,000 feet of lumber. 1 think 
that every foot of this lumber was taken from the forests of this township, 
and it is believed that more lumber has been shipped at Somersville and 
Susquehanna Depot than at New Milford. Our dairymen have also shipped 
at this depot, through our village merchants, 240,169 pounds of butter, from 
the 1st of June to the 1st of January." 

Sutton's, or the Bast Lake Steam Saw-mill, about 3J miles 
from New Milford Depot, runs during the entire year, and 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 161 

furnishes the miners and railroads with large quantities of long 
timber. 

In the summer of 1870 the pond belonging to Mr. Elliot Page, 
and which occupies a space of one hundred acres, was drained 
preparatory to a repair of the dam ; when the fish, which had 
been accumulating there for about twenty-four years, were made 
an easy prey by the use of a net. In all, there were caught 
about six thousand pounds of pickerel, perch, chubs, suckers, 
bullheads, etc. 

A gentleman of Lynn (March, 1869) says : — 

*' Forty years ago, beginning at the lower end of the town, the inhabitants 
were Benj. Hayden, and Warner his son, Captain Dean, old Esq. Wm, Ward, 
Albert Moss, Henry Burritt, John and James Boyle. Those few, with their 
families, composed the chief of the population where the village now stands. 
The writer lived nine or ten years very near the old Leach Farm. The old 
school-house at the foot of Mott's Hill furnished some scenes that still dis- 
tinctly linger in recollection. In those days the master was supposed to be 
master of the situation, without the necessity of calling in school directors. 
On one occasion a boy some nineteen or twenty years old became disobedient, 
and was forthwith brought up to be chastised. He very distinctly refused to 
accept the punishment ; whereupon he was seized, and thrown upon the floor, 
and the whip applied. He being nearly equal in strength with the teacher, 
the result was doubtful till he was turned upon his face and became more 
easily managed. He then called to his sister to go home and have his brother, 
with whom he lived, come to the rescue. ' Go quick !' says he. ' I will,' she 
answered, and started. ' Come back !' says teacher. ' Go on' and ' come 
back' were alternately used for a while, when order was restored by a promise 
of future obedience." 

A remarkable case of longevity is mentioned : — 

John Robinson, born in Dutchess County, N. Y., 9th November, 1770, 
died in New Mil ford 8th April, 1867. His widow Betsy died two years later, 
aged ninety-four. They lived together in the bonrls of matrimony seventy- 
seven years, and reared a large family. Both were Baptists, and Mrs. R. had 
been a church member seventy-five years. 

The poor-house for the township and borough is in the east- 
ern part of the township. The farm was purchased of Jesse 
Baldwin for $4000 and $500 additional for stock. The institu- 
tion opened April, 1871. 

CHURCHES. 

There are four churches in the borough : The Protestant 
Episcopal, dedicated November, 1829, was built principally 
through the liberality and efforts of David Badger, Gaius and 
Albert Moss, and William Ward, Esq., with the favoring in- 
fluence of the rector of the parish, Rev. S. Marks. 

The Presbyterian, though built later, represents an earlier 

denominational interest here; as also the Methodist, which was 

not built until 1848, though such class-leaders as Benjamin 

Hayden and Captain Dean held religious services in their own 

11 



162 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

houses at a very early day. Their church is on land donated 
by William C. Ward, Esq. 

The Baptist society was constituted February 23, 1827. 
Their house of worship was dedicated January 15, 1851, in the 
Moxley neighborhood. 

October, 1869, the Eoman Catholics started a chapel, 26x50 
feet, on land donated by John Boyle, but the frame was blown 
down the following month. In 1870 it was again upon its 
foundations, and was completed and dedicated July, 1871. 

The name of William 0. Ward is closely connected with a 
large portion of the business, political and social, interests of 
this township, as the high esteem and confidence of the people 
in imposing upon him offices of trust and responsibility fully 
attest. He held the office of justice of the peace nearly thirty 
years, and in the performance of his duties gained the name and 
character of peace-maker among his neighbors, generally suc- 
ceeding in settling their disputes to their mutual satisfaction, 
and gaining the good-will of both the parties. He died Feb- 
ruary 24, 1871. 

Eespecting his eldest brother, the following is contributed : — 

Christopher Longstreet Ward was born in New Milford in 1807. He 
came of a race who found a home upon our shores in the infancy of our 
country, who shared in her struggles, and bore a loyal part in her early 
history. 

He never lost the leaven of labor, the energy and vigor which have found 
root and borne fruit in the peculiar growth of American character. To these 
virtues he united something of the liberality and culture which are distinctive 
of an older and a riper civilization than our own. 

He lent himself from his earliest youth to such studies as leisure would 
allow, and made himself acquainted with a very considerable range of reading ; 
his mind was disciplined to hard work and to habits of industry. 

His diversions indicated the bent of his mind. From the school-boy to the 
printer-apprentice, and through the initiatory studies of his profession, he 
gathered many curious things, and delighted in arranging them appropri- 
ately ; and in later years this propensity led to his acquisition of a most 
valuable collection. 

With freedom from other demands upon his time, he might have fallen upon 
some congenial path in the world of letters. He did not yield himself to such 
a career, but knew much of its consolations amid the cares of business. [His 
connection with the press, and his occupancy of positions of trust in Susque- 
hanna County, are mentioned on other pages of this work.] 

He removed to Towanda, Bradford County, more than thirty years ago, 
and lent his aid to many enterprises of lasting benefit to the town. 

He was the President of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway during 
its construction through Pennsylvania, and through his instrumentality the 
means for its early completion were obtained in Europe. 

He never deviated from the resolution formed in early life of not entering 
the political field to hold office, though high honors were tendered him during 
more than one presidential term. 

In political matters he was a tried and trusted counsellor to those with 
whom he affiliated, and felt the deepest interest in all the important measures 
of the day. 

The laborer and skilled workman profited by his enterprises; the debtor 




• by JcfatS 'arte*™ """ 



C_y . Q\) . MMjr^cC , ~~ 



\ 



, 163 

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

jnt is 
knew his forbearance; the poor blessed him. The following incick . — 
worthy of notice as illustrative of his generosity and unsolicited benevu-'- 
lence : — 

Such was the confidence felt in the officers of the Susquehanna County 
Bank, that many persons, including several lady school-teachers, had their 
savings in its notes. "When the bank failed, Mr. Ward felt so keenly the 
sufferings inflicted upon the latter, that he, though not an officer of the bank, 
redeemed with his own funds several hundreds of dollars of the worthless 
notes in their hands. 

Those who knew him well remarked that he had a habit of doing and 
intending a kindness ivithout admitting the intention. His hospitality was 
liberal to friends and strangers. His acquaintance, by reason of his active 
and varied course of life, extended widely among the leading men of his time. 
He had considerable knowledge of the early history of the section in which 
he lived. Though progressive, he loved the traditions of the past, and 
honored and respected the men who removed the wilderness, and laid the 
foundations of both local and national progress. 

His love of books and his superiority of taste, united to rare system and 
method, enabled him to collect many thousands of volumes, selected with 
great care, and containing, it is stated, more rare works than can be found in 
any private library of the country. His collection of autographs was unusu- 
ally complete; and by his skill in arranging, mounting, and illustrating them, 
they constituted a unique feature of his literary possessions. 

He was a well-read and clear-minded lawyer, respecting and respected by 
the profession, but his business affairs multiplied year by year and took him 
from active practice, though it had been attended with abundant success. 
To the extent and variety of his labors may be attributed, in part, the sudden 
and comparatively premature closing of his life. 

He died at Towanda, May 14, 1870, aged sixty-three. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HERRICK. 

This township was formed from parts of Gibson 1 and Clifford, 
May, 1825. Its original extent was eight miles on the Wayne 
County line, south from the N.E. corner of Gibson (then near 
Long Lake, or Dunn's Pond, now in Ararat), by four miles* and 
a half east and west — a right-angled parallelogram. It was 
reduced to its present proportions in 1852, having then parted 
with three-eighths of its former territory on the north. It re- 
ceived its name in honor of Judge Edward Herrick, who was 
then presiding over the Courts of Susquehanna County, which 
was included in one district with Bradford and Tioga. He had 
been appointed for this district upon its erection in August, 
1818, and he continued to preside over it twenty-one years, 

1 The court had been petitioned, May, 1815, to have Gibson divided "through 
the centre from north to south ; the ' westernmost ' part to retain the name of 
Gibson, and the new town to be called Lawrence." Nothing further appears 
in relation to it. 



164 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



lacking one term of court. Judge Herrick is still living at 
Athens, Bradford County. 

" Though now (1870) 82 years of age, he is as erect as ever, and loves to 
converse, with his older acquaintances especially. Enjoying the fruits of 
early care and industry, he takes little interest in the contests of the day for 
wealth or honor ; but in the bosom of his surviving family, and in the society 
of books and papers, he is a good specimen of vigorous old age. Though he 
was the weakest of a large family of children, he has outlived them all, 
thanks to his calm and equable temperament, and the good providence of 
God.V 

That section of the township north of the Great Bend and 
Coshecton Turnpike, is but sparsely settled. The principal 
timber left there is hemlock. The traveler, in entering the 
town by the road from Ararat church, passes through woods 
where there is not a resident for a mile and a half; and, if in 
summer, seems to be going through a tunnel roofed with green 
interlacing boughs, which for some time close to him the view 
of the exit beyond. The surface here appears to be a continu- 
ation of the broad table-land of Ararat, gradually sloping to 
the south, from which spring the sources of the east branch of 
the Tunkhannock. The west branches of the Lackawanna, 
rising in Ararat, are but slender streams in the northern part 
of Herrick, which is cold and wet compared with the section 
below the turnpike. The latter is a good farming country, 
though but little wheat is grown. The best crops are oats and 
corn. 

The township is walled in by mountains on two sides. The 
Moosic Mountain ranges along the eastern border, and the two 
peaks of Elk Mountain tower in the extreme southwest, though 
Prospect Eock is just below the township line; while East or 
" Tunkhannock Mountain" (as it was formerly called), rises a 
little beyond in Gibson, and extends nearly to the line between 
Herrick and Ararat. 

A road traversed the township prior to January, 1798, which 
was even then known as " the old Brace road." A part of 
this has been traveled within the memory of present residents; 
but its route beyond the limits of Herrick seems very indis- 
tinctly defined. 

At the time mentioned above, the Court at Wilkes-Barre 
appointed a committee to see if a new township was needed, 
" beginning at the line of Northampton County (now Wayne) 
where the Brace road crosses said line, then running due 
west," etc. etc. 

At the same term a petition was presented for a road to 
Great Bend, from Samuel Stanton's near the line of North- 
ampton County (or near Mount Pleasant) : — 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 165 

" To begin at the line of said county, where the road crosses said line, and 
run west to the third Lackawanna bridge ; thence to Abel Kent's, thence to 
Asahel Gregory's, thence to Johnson's Creek, thence to D. Church's, thence 
to Tunkhannock Creek, thence to Joseph Potter's, thence to old Brace road, 
thence to David Hamilton's, then to Daniel Hunt's, then to Daniel Leach's, 
then nearly west to Salt Lick, then to R. Corbett's, then north six miles to 
the ferry Great Bend — 23 miles." [See Gibson.J 

This, with an alteration afterwards made, was approved and 
confirmed, April, 1799. 

The route proposed is given here to show that the roads 
were distinct from each other. The line of the Great Bend and 
Coshecton turnpike, run a few years later, follows the latter 
in its general route; but the Brace road appears to have been 
designed to connect the road cut through to Grreat Bend, by 
settlers of 1791, with the north and south road in Northamp- 
ton County, some miles below the point intersected by the road 
mentioned above. 

A road from Belmont to Tioga Point, though never com- 
pleted, is laid down on Proud's Map of Pennsylvania (1798), 
as "the grand route northwestward, and the only road in the 
section now included in Susquehanna County." 

At that time Herrick was within the limits of Nicholson 
township, which then covered territory now embraced in five 
whole townships, and parts of three more in Susquehanna 
County, besides a strip of the counties below. Thus we find 
on the court records mention made of a road "from the Brace 
road in Nicholson. 11 

It appears to have left Northampton Co., at a point due east 
from the head of Stillwater Pond, in Clifford, and crossing the 
northeast corner of the township as it is, entered Herrick near 
the present farm of E. Carpenter. It passed through the orchard 
of Major Walter Lyon (late that of Wheeler Lyon), and is said 
to have intersected the old road to Great Bend not far from 
the west line of Herrick. 

But, controverting this idea, it is the prevalent opinion that 
it terminated on the top of Tunkhannock (East) Mountain, in 
Gibson. This, in turn, is discountenanced by the statement that 
" it crossed the northeast corner of Nine Partners," as an order 
was issued August, 1800, for a road "from Van Winkle's mills 
on the Brace road," to run westward from Martin's Creek. 

The principal lakes of the township of Herrick are Low Lake 
and Lewis Lake. The former was named after John N. Low, 
an early settler who died previous to 1814. It is one mile 
long, and is near the centre of the township. At its outlet, Lewis 
Lake, near Uniondale, has superior water privileges. Just 
above the turnpike there is a large reservoir made by a dam 
in one of the tributaries of the Lackawanna. This stream, with 
two tributaries to Tunkhannock Creek, drains the township. 



166 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

SETTLEMENT. 

Nathaniel Holdridge was probably the first settler ; it is stated 
he was here as early as 1789. He removed soon after to Great 
Bend, then Willingborough. 

In 1790-92, Abel Kent and his brother Gideon, with their 
families; Asahel Gregory and family; Jonas and Sylvanus 

Campbell ; Daniel Church, and Hale (two hunters), came 

over the mountain, or via the Susquehanna River, into this 
secluded region, where they were joined in the latter year by 
Walter Lyon. The only other settler known to have come in 
before 1800 was John C. Await. 

Abel, John, and Carlton Kent were brothers (Carlton 2d was 
son of Abel); and Gideon and Durham sons of Gideon Kent, 
Sr. The old road of 1791 passed the vicinity of their clearings, 
which were known as the "Kent Settlement" many years. It 
was about four miles west of Belmont, and nearly a mile south 
of the Great Bend and Coshecton Turnpike, and a little west of 
the Wilkes-Barre turnpike, or where these roads were after- 
wards located. 

Abel Kent was a " taverner," as early as 1798, on the farm 
now owned by Mr. J. Thomas. He died in 1806. His brother 
John then kept a public-house on the old road until 1812, when 
he built and removed to a tavern at the junction of the two 
turnpikes. 

Asahel Gregory, who also had lived on the old road, then 
moved up to the turnpike, about half a mile west of John Kent. 
He was the first justice of the peace in this section. His career 
was an active one for the times, in the hardships of which he had 
a full share. He brought his family down the Susquehanna 
Biver to the Bend on a raft, and when their destination was 
reached he built a log hut, peeled bark to shelter the bed, and 
took possession. 

Mr. Gregory lived in Herrick over forty years, when he re- 
moved to the residence of his son Samuel, in Bridgewater, where 
he died April, 1842, at the age of 83. He was a Revolutionary 
pensioner. His remains rest in the burial lot on Dr. Asa Park's 
old place. 

Hubbel Gregory, his son, had a small store, about 1820, 
near his father's residence in Herrick. He removed to Michi- 
gan, and died at Ann Arbor, in the 72d year of his age. 

Traditions of the exploits of the hunters Church and Hale 
are still extant, but some of them have too improbable an air 
for sober history. Hale pursued his calling con amove. Onee, 
when entertaining a friend at his house, he heard that peculiar 
barking of his hounds which announced the approach of game, 
when he exclaimed, " Oh, what heavenly music I" His friend, 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 167 

not appreciating a hunter's taste, or not understanding the cause 
of his pleasure, replied, " The d — d hounds make such a noise 
I can't hear it!" 

Jonas Campbell remained in this vicinity at least twenty 
years. He married a daughter of Mr. Await ; their son was 
drowned in their spring in his second year, and his body was 
the first buried in the cemetery at Uniondale, June, 1811. 

Walter Lyon came from Ashford, Conn., in 1792, with his 
wife and one child on a rudely-fashioned sled, a yoke of steers, 
and an ax; his wife's stepfather (Green) drove in a heifer for 
her, and carried a pair of steelyards — all their worldly effects. 
He bought of John Clifford 400 acres, on which he afterwards 
built the large house in which he lived and died ; and, adjoin- 
ing this tract, he bought 100 acres of William Poyntell (a land- 
holder who died, 1811, in Philadelphia), and paid for the whole, 
within a few years afterward, by lumbering on the Delaware 
Eiver. He had also 200 acres additional. 

His family was large, including five sons — Wheeler, Jacob, 
John, Henry, and Walter, to whom he gave five large adjoin- 
ing farms, the road through which has been named " Lyon 
Street." Their descendants are numerous in the vicinity. 

In early times, he was obliged to take his grain to Great 
Bend on his back, and return with his grist in the same man- 
ner. Once, when the water was low, he was obliged to wait 
for his grist three weeks; and, not wishing to make a second 
journey, he hired out to husk corn. In the mean time, his 
family had only potatoes and milk to eat, and were in great 
fear for his safety, as his route lay through forests then tra- 
versed by bears, panthers, and wolves, and broken by only a 
few clearings. 

He was an active man in township, and county affairs, being 
justice of the peace, a major in the 76th regiment Pennsylvania 
militia, and a county commissioner, besides being often in- 
trusted with other public business. He went on foot to attend 
court at Wilkes-Barre before the organization of Susquehanna 
County. He died in 1888, aged 68. 

Wheeler Lyon, his eldest son, occupied the homestead until 
his death, February 20, 1870, aged 76. 

Walter L. died in the spring of 1872. 

Jacob L. was colonel of the " Washington Guards," a volun- 
teer battalion of Pennsylvania militia. He was " honest, patri- 
otic, intelligent, public-spirited, and generous." He died May 
10, 185-1, aged nearly 58 years. 

John Coonrod Await was one of the Hessian soldiers that 
England hired to fight her colonies of this country; and of 
those who, after the war, chose to remain here. He located on 
the road leading from Frost Hollow to Mt. Pleasant, and within 



168 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

a few rods of the county line. He had a large family of chil- 
dren, most of whom had arrived at maturity previous to 1807. 

Seth Holmes was, early in the century, if not previously, 
located southwest from "The Corners." 

Luke Harding and his son Elisha were also here early ; their 
farm was next above Major Lyon's, and joined Abel Kent's, on 
the opposite side of the road. 

Joseph Sweet settled, about 1804 or 1805, on the farm now 
owned by James Curtis, near the present tannery of Ira Nichols, 
a locality which, as the center of business, is also called " Her- 
rick Center," though very nearly on the east line of the town- 
ship. He kept a tavern very early where, after the Newburgh 
Turnpike (Great Bend and Coshecton) was completed, a popular 
house was kept by Sylvanus, son of Ithamar Mott, of New Mil- 
ford. Here stages and relays of horses were at all times in 
readiness to supply the heavy demands of the road. Mr. Sweet 
sold and moved away about 1815, and Ezra Newton had a part 
of his farm. 

In March, 1807, Asa Dimock, Sr. (an older brother of the 
late Hon. and Elder Davis D.), came from Pittston, Pa., with 
his wife and four children, to a log house of one room, which 
had been built for a school-house, on the old road south of 
the turnpike, a little southeast of A. Gregory. He moved up 
with the others when the turnpike was finished (or about 1811), 
and located about one hundred rods east of John Kent's tav- 
ern, which was afterwards and for a long time kept by his son, 
Warren Dimock. The locality was known as " Dimock's Cor- 
ners," 1 though the post-office kept by him was named Herrick 
Center, and retained the name until its removal, in 1858, to its 
present location on the Lackawanna. ~W. Dimock was ap- 
pointed postmaster in 1826. 

Asa D. was appointed a justice of the peace by Gov. McKean 
during the summer of 1808, and by Gov. Snyder was commis- 
sioned as major of the 1st battalion 129th regiment Pennsyl- 
vania militia. This was composed of the militia of Northumber- 
land, Luzerne, Ontario (Bradford), and Susquehanna counties. 

He was the first blacksmith in the vicinity, and built a shop 
near his residence on the turnpike. 

He carried the United States mail from Chenango Point to 
Newburgh, on the Hudson River, once a week, sometimes on 
horseback, and sometimes in a single wagon or cutter. 

" I recollect," says his son Shubael, now of Wisconsin, " his coming home 
from Newburgh with the mail, flying a white flag from a pole stuck up in 
his cutter with the word 'Peace' inscribed on it in large letters. This, at 
the close of the war with England, caused great excitement along the road. 



1 Asa D. was postmaster of "Dimock's Post-office," here, as early as 1815, 
but the township was then included in Gibson. 



HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 169 

" Often have I heard the panther scream and the wolf howl in the wilder- 
ness around us, and seen the scalps brought to my father, to secure to the 
successful huntsman a certificate for the bounty allowed for them. I recol- 
lect an old hunter (Wademan) once came in my father's absence, and, while 
waiting for his return, he took out from his knapsack some nice white-looking 
meat to eat for his dinner, and, at the same time, invited us to taste it. I 
was the only one who accepted the invitation, and then he told us it was the 
meat of the panther he had killed." 

John Kent, Asa Dimock, and Parley Marsh, a school teacher 
(1812-13), were the first settlers at or near the Corners. 

In 1818, Asa D. removed to Clifford, and purchased a farm 
of Amos Morse, who lived half a mile below "the city," down 
the east branch of the Tunkhannock. Two years later he was 
located on the present site of Dundaff, where there was but a 
hat shop, a school-house, and three dwellings. 

[Another statement: "Asa Dimock, Sr., had a store (1817) 
on the corner opposite (and south) of the hotel which was then 
kept by "Warren Dimock. It then consisted of only the present 
back part of Phinny's. These were the only two houses in 1817. 
There was then no road past Crystal Lake, but it was being cut 
out."] Asa D. removed, in 1827, to Lenox, where he resided 
with his son Shubael to the close of his life, in 1833. Warren 
and Shubael had returned to the " Corners." 

In the month of September, 1807, Edward Dimmick, and his 
son, Martial, came from Mansfield, Conn., and located on the 
Lackawanna, not far from the present church at Uniondale, the 
father having bought three hundred acres of Thomas Meredith. 
In the spring of 1808, he brought in his family, consisting of 
a wife and eight children. As the spelling of the name indi- 
cates, there was no relation existing between this family and 
that of Asa Dimock, who preceded Edward Dimmick only a 
few months in coming to the township. John Coonrod Await 
and Joseph Sweet were the only settlers then in the vicinity of 
Uniondale, except two or three outside the present bounds of 
Herrick. David Burns was four miles below, in Clifford, and 
Sam. Stanton had been settled some years, about three miles 
northeast, at Mount Pleasant. Mr. Dimmick had been a Kevo- 
lutionary soldier. His sons were Martial, Eber, Joshua, Til- 
den, Edward, and Shubael. 

In his reminiscences of early days at Uniondale, his oldest 
son, Martial, communicates the following: — 

" In July, 1808, towards night, there came a thunder shower, which con- 
tinued till near midnight ; and although I have lived here sixty-two years, 
1 have never seen, I think, half as much water in the Lackawanna, at one 
time, as there was the next day. It swept bridges and all before it to its 
mouth. Everything in our little cabin was as wet as though it had been 
dipped in the sea. In June, 1809, I went to the Chenango River, five miles 
above its mouth, to one Mr. Crocker's, and brought three bushels of corn on 
horseback, between forty and fifty miles, as none could be obtained nearer. 



170 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

But what a change has taken place in the sixty-two years since I came to 
this section ! Then it was woods, woods, all around, abounding with wild ani- 
mals; and these were really necessary for food for the inhabitants. One could 
shoot and kill a large fat buck that would weigh about two hundred pounds, 
and nice wild turkeys that weighed twenty-one pounds dressed, or catch them 
in traps, as I have done. The Lackawanna Creek, passing right through 
the settlement, swarmed with speckled trout. Surely these were almost the 
staff of life, for bread was often scarce ; but this game has passed away, and 
the time which made it necessary. 

"The settlers had many sore trials to pass through; poor roads, poor houses, 
a want of buildings to store what little they did raise, and a want of many 
things they had been used to having before they came here ; but with all 
their trials, there was some real enjoyment." 

In 1810, Blackleach Burritt, Hezekiah Buckingham, Abijah 
Hubbell, James Curtis, from Connecticut, and David N. Lewis, 
from Wyoming Valley, came with their families into the neigh- 
borhood. Lewis Lake received its name from the latter, and 
near it he had a grist-mill — the first in what is now Herrick. 

Blackleach Burritt settled first on the Flat, near M. Dimmick, 
but afterwards moved to the Wilkes-Barre turnpike, below 
Stephen Ellis, in Clifford, where he died. His widow died in 
the fall of 1869, aged ninety-one. His sons were Grandison, 
now in Wisconsin, Samuel, Eufus, and Eli. One other died 
young, and Eufus, at two years of age, was drowned in the 
creek, during the fall of 1813. Of the sons of Samuel Burritt, 
Loren P. has represented this county in the State Legislature 
two years; and Ira N". is now private secretary to President 
Grant to sign land patents. Both did active and protracted 
service in the Union army. 

About 1809, Philip J. Stewart bought a part of John Kent's 
farm, and built a house opposite him. 

In 1810, Stephen Ellis and family came in from Connecticut. 
J. T. Ellis, his son, at present one of the commissioners of 
Susquehanna County, was then but five years old. They were 
located near the Tunkhannock Creek, on what is now Lyon's 
street. Stephen E. bought of Moses Wharton, a large land- 
holder in that section. He was afterwards a Eevolutionary 
pensioner. He died November, 1847, aged eighty-four. His 
son, Capt. H. H. Ellis, died in 1828. 

"Smith's Knob," a hill near Uniondale, was named after 
Eaynsford Smith, a settler in the vicinity, in 1811, whose resi- 
dence was, however, just over the present line of Clifford. 

In 1811, James Giddings, formerly a sea-captain, came from 
Connecticut, and purchased a farm of Asa Dimock and Walter 
Lyon, Sr., next above that of the latter. He had thirteen 
children, twelve of whom lived to adult age. 

His son, Giles A. Giddings, left Susquehanna County in 1835, 
and died in 1836, from wounds received in the battle of San 
Jacinto, Texas. J. D. Giddings, a lawyer, went to Texas in 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 171 

1838, to take care of the landed property his brother Giles had 
left; and there he accumulated a large fortune before the War 
of the Eebellion. George H., another brother, is also in Texas. 
Still another brother, John J., who went there as mail-contractor, 
was killed on the plains by the Indians early in 1861. Several 
daughters of Capt. Giddings married and settled within the 
county. Near a spring on his farm, traces of its former occu- 
pancy by Indians have been found, such as beads, pipes, 
hatchets, etc. 

In 1812, Eli Nichols settled on the place now occupied by 
his daughter, the widow of Samuel Burritt, Esq. He gave, 
three or four years afterwards, a large number of books to 
form a library for general circulation, which were kept for 
years at Mr. Ellis'. The postmaster at the present " Center," 
Ira Nichols, is his son, and to his enterprise the locality is in- 
debted for much of its recent prosperity. A lai'ge tannery and 
a store are under his management, at the point where the old 
Newburg turnpike crosses the Lackawanna. 

In 1813, a road was laid out from Gideon Kent's to A. Gre- 
gory's. 

About this time, possibly a year or two earlier, Wm. Tanner 
kept a tavern on the turnpike near the western line of the 
present township. 

A year or two later, Dr. Erastus Day succeeded him, and be- 
came quite a prominent man in the vicinity. 

Saw-mills were built or owned by Asa Dimock and Carlton 
Kent. 

"On the 6th of July, 1814, about 5 P.M., there came up a 
thunder shower, accompanied with a hurricane," says Mr. M. 
Dimmick, "which leveled almost everything before it, for five 
or six miles in length and about a half-mile in breadth, com- 
mencing on the north side of Elk Mountain, and reaching to 
Moosic Mountain. It unroofed buildings and tore down others, 
and opened a new world in appearance." 

The first store, for many miles around (except that of Joseph 
Tanner, in Mount Pleasant), was kept, in 1815, by M. and E. 
Dimmick, at Uniondale. People came to it from ten and fifteen 
miles, and even farther, to trade. 

The year 1816 was marked here, as elsewhere, by the pe- 
culiarity of its seasons. "The most of January and the whole 
of February was like what our weather generally is in Septem- 
ber — the ground dry and dusty, and the atmosphere warm and 
pleasant as summer. This was followed by a cold sickly spring 
and summer. Many died of 'inflammation of the lungs.' It 
snowed in June." 

Philip J. Stewart kept a tavern in 1816, and Eber Dimmick 
in 1817, on the Newburg turnpike. In 1818, A. and Hubbell 
Gregory opened another. 



172 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In 1817, Kev. Williams Churchill came to the township from 
Ehode Island. His wife is a descendant of Roger Williams, 
the founder of Rhode Island. They celebrated their golden 
wedding May 18, 1870, in Herrick, surrounded by nine of 
their children, and others of their descendants. 

In 1819, the first school-house in the southeast part of the 
town was built, and a teacher (Gurdon H. Tracy) kept school 
in it a few weeks, when it was burned. 

At this time, Uniondale, as well as all of Herrick, bordering 
on Clifford (below a line extended to Wayne County from the 
line between Gibson and Clifford), was in the latter township. 
It was not until six years later that Herrick was erected. 

It is difficult here, as elsewhere in our county, to associate 
the early settlers with the name of a township which now 
includes the places of their former abode, but which had no 
existence until they had passed away. 

Thus, prior to 1796, the settlers on lands now within the 
bounds of Herrick, were in the old townships Tioga and Wya- 
lusing, Luzerne County. From that time for ten years they 
were in Nicholson ; from 1806 to the organization of Susque- 
hanna County they were in Clifford; from 1814 they were, 
with the exception mentioned above, included in Gibson, until, 
in 1826, the tax-list of Herrick was made out for the first time, 
the township having been erected the year previous. 

By reference to the annals of Gibson it will be seen that a 
division of the township had been petitioned for once or twice 
before the eastern part was set off for Herrick. The peaks of 
Elk Mountain and the ridge of Tunkhannock or East Mountain 
formed a barrier to oneness of interest among its inhabitants, 
and to ease in the transaction of township business. 

To the writer, while on a recent visit to that section, it was 
a matter of surprise that they had continued so long together ; 
but it was then no longer a surprise that the people of Herrick, 
as early as 1827, 1831, and again in 1839, sought to be set off' 
with Clifford, to form a part of a new county, proposed on our 
southeastern border. The natural features of the country 
countenanced the wish, as at the present day, most of the 
business of the section is done with Carbondale and Scranton; 
but it is none the less painful to see our own county more 
foreign to some of its inhabitants than Wayne and Luzerne. 
Happily, political considerations just now are too powerful to 
make them desirous of any immediate change of county rela- 
tions. The completion of the Jefferson railroad facilitates 
egress from their retreat southward, and also brings them into 
readier communication with the townships north of them, and 
may thus ultimately unite them to the interests of their own 
county. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 173 

RELIGIOUS AND MISCELLANEOUS. 

In the Kent Settlement a Methodist class was formed in 1810. 
The earliest notice of any religious services in the vicinity 
of Uniondale is related thus: — 

"In 1812 there came along an old man, and stopped at the house of Mr. 
Buckingham, just before night, and, giving out that he was a minister, ap- 
pointed a meeting. The whole neighborhood assembled at short notice, and 
had a good meeting. Though the preacher, Phillips, a Baptist, could give a 
good discourse, he was very illiterate, being unable to read writing at all. 

"The neighbors gave him a piece of land and built him a small log-house, 
where he lived alone. He preached for us about a year. 

" In the fall of 1813, Mr. Hill, a missionary from the Connecticut Society, 
came and labored for a short time, and in the winter following there was 
quite a revival. A Congregational Church was formed by Rev. E. Kings- 
bury and Rev. Worthington Wright of Bethany ; ten of its members being 
in this vicinity, and five in Mt. Pleasant. In 1833 the connection between 
them was dissolved, and the Uniondale Presbyterian Church was formed 
with forty-three members. Their meeting-house, the first in the place, was 
erected in 1835." A new one is built on its site, but the old house stands 
near. 

A Baptist church was formed in the western part, June 
1834, and consisted of ten members, viz.: Jacob and Mahala 
Lyons, Thomas and Alex. Burns, Benjamin and Harriet Coon, 
Silas and Emily Finn, Martin Bunnel, and Benjamin Watrous. 
From 1839-41 Eld. Joseph Currin was pastor. In 1840 Silas 
Finn "received liberty to improve his gift" as a preacher in 
this denomination, and was afterwards licensed. In 1842-43, 
Eev. John Baldwin was pastor. The highest number of mem- 
bers was thirty-one. The church was disbanded in 1851. 1 

A Methodist society was organized about forty years ago, by 
Eev. V.M. Coryell. 

Eeligious services were held in a school-house for many years, 
but, in 1853, a neat church edifice was built near the residence 
of Walter Lyon, Jr. This gentleman, with his brother, the 
late Wheeler Lyon, Esq., Carlton Kent, and Andrew Giddings, 
were chiefly instrumental in its erection, though the community, 
in general, were liberal in their contributions to it. 

In 1851 or 1852 there was a Freewill Baptist church 
erected about half a mile north of the Methodist church. 
Most of the church members have died or moved away, and 
the house is now unoccupied except on funerals or extra 
occasions. 

A Bible Society, in connection with Clifford, was formed at 
an early day ; Sabbath schools and temperance societies were 
also formed and have been continued ever since. They have 
changed somewhat in form, but not in substance. The Herrick 

1 From E. L. Bailey's Hist, of Abington Association. 



174 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Anti-Slavery Society was organized in 1838 : Martial Dimmick, 
President, and Grandison Burritt, and Dav. W. Halsted, Vice- 
Presidents. 

Politically, the township was democratic until 1830. 

While Herrick was a part of Gibson, in 1814, the heaviest 
tax-payers in the former were of the Kent family; after the 
separation, they were Samuel Benjamin, a tavern keeper, and 
Walter Lyon, Sr. 

Within the last thirty years, nine Welsh families have lo- 
cated in Herrick, though they are considered as belonging to 
" the settlement," whose members are principally in Clifford 
and Gibson. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

HARFORD. 



In November, 1807, the court of Luzerne County granted 
("Nisi") the petition of John Tyler and others for a new town- 
ship from the north part of Nicholson, seven and a half miles 
wide and six and a half long, to be called Harford; but this 
grant was not " finally" confirmed until January, 1808. The 
name was varied from Hartford, at the suggestion of Laban 
Capron, to make the orthography of the word correspond with 
its customary pronunciation. A petition had been presented 
to the court as early as 1796 by the same parties, "inhabitants 
of a place called Nine Partners," praying to be set off into a 
new township, and commissioners were appointed to examine 
whether the same was necessary. Their report, January 17, 
1797, was favorable to the petitioners, and the following bounda- 
ries were described : — 

" Beginning at the dwelling-house of Mr. Amos Sweet, then running on a 
straight line north till within five miles of the line of Willingborough, then 
turning a corner to the west, running five miles to a corner, thence running 
seven miles south to a corner, then east five miles, then turning north and 
running that course until it meets the aforesaid." 

Thus making a township seven miles north and south by five 
miles east and west, which was to be called Stockfleld ; but no 
further record is found respecting it. 

In the eleven years that elapsed before the " Nine Partners" 
secured township privileges, the settlers between them and 
Willingborough had also petitioned for the township of New 
Milford; and this occasioned an alteration in the boundaries 
proposed by the former, when at last their object was virtually 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 175 

attained. The north line was then established on that of 
Nicholson, two or three miles south of the one given in the 
report of the first commissioners, and the center was essentially 
different, many new families having been added to the settle- 
ment. The western boundary of Harford is Martin's Creek, a 
tributary to the Tunkhannock, like every stream in the town- 
ship. Its principal feeder is the outlet of the Three Lakes. 
Van Winkle's Branch and Nine Partners Creek, in the eastern 
part, have their principal sources in other townships. Upper 
Bell Brook rises near the center of Harford Township, in the 
vicinity of Beaver Meadow, memorable as the birthplace of the 
settlement. (See diagram.) The brook reached the Tunkhannock 
in Lenox near the early location of Elisha Bell. Spring 
Brook, which flows into Martin's Creek at Oakley, was visited 
by a remarkable flood in the summer of 1870. 

The lower of the three lakes, and the larger part of the 
middle one, with Tingley Lake, a much larger sheet, with a 
pure sand bottom, and two ponds about three miles west of it, 
are in the northern part of Harford, while Tyler Lake rests on 
the top of a hill, and is the pet and pride of the village. The 
beautiful white pond lily is found here, also in the lower and 
middle lakes. 

In the vicinity of Montrose depot, which is in the northeast 
corner of Harford Township, a rare variety of the mullein 
( Verbascum thapsus — white-flowered) was found by Rev. H. 
A. Riley, of Montrose. A German work, written in Latin, 
describes the plant, but it is known to but few American 
botanists. 

The timber is principally beech and maple. In the early 
years of the settlement, pines four feet in diameter at the 
ground and sixty feet high beneath the lowest limb, were com- 
mon, and were of great service in building. Shingles were 
made from them three feet long, the roofs being ribbed, that is, 
the shingles were held on by poles fastened at the ends of the 
roofs. 

The township is uneven, but the soil is very fertile. A graft 
put in a plum-tree by Milbourn Oakley, in the spring of 1868, 
had grown eight feet and six inches before December following. 

The following four pages are compiled principally from the 
Historical Discourse of Rev. A. Miller : — 

In the fall and winter of 1789 several young men, afterwards its first settlers, 
were deliberating together in Attleborough, Massachusetts, on the subject 
of emigrating from the place of their nativity. Most of them were unmarried 
and unsettled, but several were married and proprietors of small farms. The 
difficulty of obtaining near home and from their own resources an adequate 
supply of land, urged them to seek ampler room in some new region and on 
cheaper soil. A company of nine concluded to enter upon the adventure in 
the spring. They were Hosea Tiffany, Caleb Richardson, Ezekiel Titus, 



176 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Robert Follet, John Carpenter, Moses Thacher, Daniel Carpenter, Samuel 
Thacher, and Josiah Carpenter. 

Messrs. Tiffany, Titus, and Follet were married. Mr. Tiffany only was 
over thirty years of age; the others were mostly under twenty-five. 

They left Attleborough by two different routes on the 27th and 29th of 
April, 1790, to meet at West Stockbridge ; thence they proceeded via Kin- 
derhook to Albany, New York. Information was sought of the Surveyor- 
General. He suggested Canajoharie, Herkimer, and German Flats as inviting 
fields, or, if not suited there, Cherry Valley, or some towns soon to be sur- 
veyed west of the Unadilla. Reports of the sickliness of the otherwise most 
attractive portion of the Mohawk Valley, induced them to turn aside from 
the river at Canajoharie and proceed to Cherry Valley. Here they were 
strongly inclined to settle. But, visiting William Cooper at the outlet of 
Otsego Lake, they were invited to pass down the Susquehanna in a boat 
with him in a few days, free of expense, to view lands of which he had the 
agency, lying about one hundred miles south. To this southerly movement 
consent was given the more readily in hope of finding the climate warmer, as 
a settler at Cherry Valley had stated that during five years of his residence 
there, not a month had passed without frost. 

Passing down the river they arrived at the Great Bend, May 16th. Here 
they found a few families, with whom they remained the next day, which 
was the Sabbath, and attended worship. On Monday, with Mr. Cooper, sur- 
veyor, and others, they proceeded into the wilderness in a southern direction. 
On Tuesday, the 19th, they reached the Beaver Meadow, and having found 

Fig. 15. 



\- 'HARFORD V-i 



\ Cfc \& : ' 

\V v»i v- ""•■ -■--. 

\ ^i PUL K 

\ tt .; :: ♦ 



D T I FF A N VW^T h f // *\ ' X. 

^ BE AV/Tfl fM: %* \ y ^ 

ME AD OWl§m SPRING ■.}•. x 



7.'V, 



'<K«^ 



SITE OF FIRST BARK CABIN — BEAVER MEADOW. 



near it a good spring of water, they erected a bark cabin, the first dwelling 
constructed or occupied here by the white man. (The first log house was 
afterwards built under the hill, between the house of Captain Asahel Sweet 
and the village.) The emigrants found snow, on their way from Massachu- 
setts, one and a half feet deep; on their arrival in Pennsylvania, the trees 
were in full leaf, and the ground covered nearly everywhere with leeks or 
wild onions. 

After some days had been spent in viewing the vicinity, a tract four miles 
long and one mile wide was purchased for £1198. By a subsequent arrange- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 177 

ment with Mr. Drinker, the landholder, their joint obligation for the whole- 
sale purchase was cancelled, and each individual became responsible for his 
own possessions. 

The corner of the tract was near the spring mentioned ; thence a line 
ran northwest one mile, and thence four miles northeast. The centre of a 
parallelogram with these sides, would fall a short distance southwest of the 
Congregational church in Harford village. The writings were drawn and 
signed on a hemlock stump, May 22d, 1790. 

At that time,. Northern Pennsylvania, and the adjacent parts of New 
York, presented, with little exception, the solitude of an immense wilder- 
ness. Between Harmony and the mouth of Snake Creek, about a dozen 
families had located but a year or two previous. Another small settlement, 
styled "the Irish Settlement," had been made at Hopbottom, now Brooklyn ; 
and another fifteen or twenty miles south, at Thornbottom, below the pre- 
sent county line. 

From neither of these could our adventurers expect an adequate supply of 
provisions, if they should continue through the summer. 

Wilkes-Barre, and a "French settlement" on the Susquehanna, below 
Towanda, were the nearest places on which they could depend ; and to 
reach these, a wilderness of forty or fifty miles must be traversed, without 
beasts of burden and without even a path. 

These considerations determined their return to Attleborough to secure 
their harvests. From the diary of Caleb Richardson, Jr., we learn that the 
following agreement was made in the spring of 1790, after the return of the 
purchasers to Massachusetts :— 

" To run a centre line lengthwise, which should be 160 rods from the ex- 
terior lines ; then beginning at the northeast end and going upon the centre 
line 150 rods, would make two lots of 150 acres each; and to proceed until 
they should have sixteen lots — eight on each side of the centre line — the re- 
mainder at the southwest end to remain as public property to the company. 
Then, to apportion each man's share, it was agreed to make sixteen paper 
tickets to represent and designate the sixteen lots, and to let each man draw 
for himself two lots, and upon going back in the fall, and viewing the land, 
each man to make his choice of the two he had drawn. Then, for adjusting 
the remaining eight lots, it was agreed that he who, in the candid judgment 
of the company, had the poorest lot of the eight already chosen, should have 
his choice out of the remaining eight lots ; and to proceed in this way until 
the whole should be disposed of." 

This was eventually done to general satisfaction. 

In the fall of the same year, nearly all returned, accompanied by several 
others. They brought with them an ox-team, tools, clothing, provisions, etc. 
Having labored awhile they left again, late in the season. 

The spring of 1791 found most of them on their land, clearing and culti- 
vating. In the fall they returned to Attleborough. About that time the 
settlement became extensively known by the name of "Nine Partners," from 
the fact that the original purchase was made by nine partners, though only 
eight returned to share the first division. 

On the 2d of February, 1792, Hosea Tiffany and wife, with their children, 
Hosea, Amos, and Nancy ; and Robert Follett, wife, and daughter Lucy, 
left Attleborough with ox-teams and reached the settlement the first week 
in March. In this company were the first white women who visited this 
place. A considerable number of persons were on the ground, without fami- 
lies, during the season. Among these was Joseph Stearns, who occupied 
what was afterwards known as the John Tyler farm. He was from Tolland 
Co., Conn., and returned therein the fall for his family, and on his way back to 
Nine Partners, he stopped at Mount Pleasant, and remained there ; but his 
sons Otis and Ira afterwards became residents of Harford and Gibson. Ira 
Stearns died in Harford December, 1870, in the 80th year of his age. 
12 



178 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 
Fisr. 16. 




NINE PARTNERS' PURCHASE. 

The supply of provisions raised was insufficient for all. Grain or flour 
was procured even from " the French settlement" or from Wilkes-Barre, on 
horseback, and sometimes nearly that distance by hand. For several years 
after this, the nearest mill was in the vicinity of Binghamton. The stump 
at the door, excavated to form a large mortar, was often the most convenient 
substitute for the mill, in the preparation of a scanty measure of grain for 
food. It will not appear at all surprising that the settlers of some of the 
first years did, at times at least, find themselves uncomfortably straitened 
in their necessary articles of food, both as respects variety and quantity. 
Except for the abundance of deer, they would often have suffered severely. 

In the spring of 1794, the additions to the settlement were : Laban Cap- 
ron, wife, and children — Wheton, Nancy, and Hannah; Thomas Sweet, wife, 
and daughter Charlotte; John Carpenter, wife, and son John; Samuel 
Thacher, wife, and son Daniel C. ; also John Tyler, Jr., and Dr. Comfort 
Capron. 

In the fall of that year, John Tyler and wife, and their children, Job, Joab, 
Achsah, and Jabez ; and Thomas Tiffany, wife, and children — Lorinda, 
Alfred, Thomas, Pelatiah, Tingley, Dalton, and Lewis. They came from the 
Delaware to the Susquehanna at the rate of ten miles per day, over a road 
cut out without being worked. The Tylers were three weeks on the journey. 

In the fall of 1795, Amos Sweet, wife, and children, Asahel, Stephen, Oney. 
Polly, and Nancy; Ezekiel Titus, wife, and children— Leonard, Richardson, 
Preston, and Sophia — and Ezra Carpenter. 

To these were added the same year or years immediately succeeding, 
Elkauah Tingley, Obadiah Carpenter and sons, Obadiah and Elias ; Joseph 
Blanding, Obadiah Thacher, John Thacher, Moses Thacher, Abel Reed, 
Thomas Wilmarth, Noah Fuller, Nathaniel Claflin, and others. 

All the accessions previous to 1800, it is believed, were directly or indi- 
rectly from Attleborough, except Jotham Oakley, who came from Thorn- 
bottom, and was a native of Dutchess Co., N. Y. 

Most of the settlers of Attleborough, Mass., were from Attle- 
borough, Norfolk Co., England. 





'^-t^c 




HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 179 

John Tyler, son of Captain John Tyler of Mass., was born in Attleborough 
in 1746, and belonge'd to a line of John and Job Tylers of several genera- 
tions, who were descended from Job Tyler of Andover, England. The sons 
of John Tyler were John, Job, Joab, and Jabez. The first-mentioned and 
four sisters (married) were already in Pennsylvania when their parents came 
in the fall of 1794, with the remaining daughter and sons. 

John Tyler was chosen to fill the office of deacon by the Harford church, 
April, 1803, and after his removal to what is now Ararat, he served also in 
the same capacity ; in each case being the first elected by the church. He 
was from an early day the agent of Henry Drinker in the disposal of lands 
on the head-waters of the Tunkhannock and Lackawanna. This, with his 
position in the church, and with somewhat larger means than most of those 
around him, gave him influence, while his wife Mercy, by her untiring and un- 
selfish efforts in behalf of the sick, far and near, gained as much, or more, in 
the sphere allotted her. The volunteer testimony of two of the oldest physi- 
cians of the county now living, is sufficient to endorse her skill as a prac- 
titioner in the specialities she adopted. (Dr. E. Parker, now of Luzerne 
County, and Dr. Streeter.) 

Dea. Tyler died in Gibson (now Ararat) in 1822, at the age of 77. His 
son John, at Harford, in 1857, aged 80. Colonel Job Tyler, the same year, 
in New Milford, aged 77. Dea. Jabez Tyler in Ararat, April, 1864, aged 
also 77. John W., only son of John Tyler, Jr., died in 1833. 

Dea. Joab Tyler (of whom we give a portrait) upon the removal of his 
father to Ararat in 1810, took his farm in Harford, and his place eventually, 
in civil and religious affairs. He contributed freely to the erection of church 
and school-houses, and built miles of turnpike and plank road from his own 
means. To his public spirit Harford owed much of its growth and prosperity. 
At a great pecuniary sacrifice, early in the temperance reformation, he bought 
out his partners in the distillery business, and stopped the sale of its spirit- 
ous products. He died and was buried in Amherst, Mass., Jan. 1869, in his 
84th year. 

All the sons and nearly all the grandsons of Joab Tyler were educated 
at Amherst College ; an institution which for forty years was daily remem- 
bered in his prayers. Of his sons, Susquehanna County may well be proud ; 
each filling a post of widely honored usefulness. One died on the coast of 
Labrador while in pursuit of health. 

In his reminiscences of Harford, one of them mentions having once seen 
fourteen wolves troop across his father's farm, in broad daylight. Deer 
grazed like cattle quietly in the meadow till the hunter's rifle brought them 
low. 

John Carpenter, Sen., was a son-in-law of John Tyler; one of 
his grandsons, C. 0. Carpenter, is now governor of Iowa. 

The ancestor of the Eichardsons of this county emigrated 
from England about the year 1666, and settled in Woburn, 
Mass. The next generation moved to Attleborough, in the 
same State, where the family became numerous. Caleb Rich- 
ardson, a son of Stephen, of Attleborough, and a great-grand- 
son of the first settler of Woburn, was one of the nine part- 
ners of Harford. He had been a soldier in the French War 
of 1765, and traversed the Mohawk before any settlements 
were made upon it. He went with Gen. Bradstreet in his 
expedition down the Oswego River, and across Lake Ontario 
to the taking of Frontenac, at the outlet of the lake. He was 
a captain in the war of the Revolution, had command and 



180 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

held the fort where the Battery is now in New York city, 
while Gen. Washington retreated from New York. After the 
war he was acting justice of the peace in his native town. He 
came in the spring of 1790, with eight others, to Susquehanna 
County, and was the only one of the nine partners who did not 
return to settle upon the purchase then made. He came, 
however, eighteen years later (1808) and died in Harford in 
1823. His wife was a sister of Hosea Tiffany. 

His son Caleb became justice of the peace in Attleborough, 
upon the expiration of his father's appointment, and was 
elected deacon of the church to which he then belonged. 
Deacon Eichardson came to Harford in 1806, and was elected 
deacon of the Cong. Church here, Oct. 1810, and retained his 
office to the close of his life. He died April 1838, aged 
seventy-six. The year previous to his death he wrote for his 
grandson, C. J. Eichardson, a history of the Nine Partners' 
Settlement, to which the present history is largely indebted. 
He had five sons. 

The eldest, Eev. Lyman Eichardson, was a distinguished 
educator, and was, for many years, at the head of the literary 
institution at Harford, and was connected with it about forty 
years. Dr. Edward S., Eev. Willard Eichardson, of Delaware, 
and N. Maria, were the children of his first marriage, E. K. 
Eichardson, Principal of the New Milford Graded School, 
George Lee, and Lyman E. by his second marriage. The eldest 
and the two youngest sons are deceased. 

Lee, the second son of Caleb E. was a deacon and colonel of 
militia. He died in 1833. He also had five sons: Dr. Win.L, 
(of Montrose), Ebenr., Stephen J., "Wellington J., and C. Judson 
Eichardson of Chicago. 

Caleb Coy, the third son of Caleb, is the only one living. 

Preston, the fourth son, was an alumnus of Hamilton College 
and a member of Auburn Theological Seminary, which he was 
forced to leave on account of pulmonary hemorrhage. He spent 
the residue of his life in establishing the school at Harford, 
where he died in 1836. His only son died before him. 

"Dr. Braton Eichardson, the youngest son, passing the days of his boy- 
hood in a new country, was, to a great extent, deprived of the literary ad- 
vantages which have sprung up with the progress and growth of the people; 
yet his education was not neglected, for around his father's fireside, he and 
his brothers diligently prosecuted their studies. 

"In 1825 he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Thomas Sweet, of 
Wayne County. In 1828-29 he was a student in the office of Dr. Charles 
Marshall, at Newton, Sussex County, N. J. He attended two courses of 
lectures at the Western District Medical College, and received the degree of 
M.D. at Albany in 1834. He commenced practice at Carbondale, Pa., in 
1829, continuing there one year, when he removed to Brooklyn, Susquehanna 
County. In September, 1840, he married Lucy C. Miles, of the same place, 





m€(^7 



Cr{uJi a/t^Cd 



<rn 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 181 

and was there for a third of a century engaged in an extensive and successful 
practice, until prostrated by the brief illness which terminated in his death 
on the 20th day of March, 1864. He had no children. 

" As a physician, Dr. Richardson was in the foremost rank of the profession 
in Susquehanna County. He despised quackery out of the profession or in 
it, and was a zealous supporter of medical organization for its suppression. 
He was remarkable for his punctuality in all appointments, and whenever 
absent or tardy, it was well known there must be a good reason for it. For 
several years he represented the County Society at the State Society, of 
which he was one of the Censors, and twice attended the American Medical 
Association as a delegate." [From Biography in ' Transactions of State Med- 
ical Society.'] 

A blacksmith's shop was erected by Amos Sweet, in 1795 ; 
a grist-mill, in 1796, by a Mr. Halstead (who died early), in 
the southern part of the settlement, where Harding's mills now 
stand ; a saw-mill, by Messrs. Tiffany, Fallet, and Blias Car- 
penter, in 1800, about one hundred rods southeasterly from the 
village graveyard; a fulling-mill, in 1810, by Eufus Kingsley, 
on Martin's Creek; and in the same year a carding-machine, 
by Elkanah Tingley, where D. K. Oakley now has a mill, two 
miles below Kingsley's. 

The road to Martin's Creek " from near Van Winkle's mills 
on the Brace Eoad," was laid out in 1800. " The inhabited 
part of the Beechwoods" was now open. As early as 1793, a 
road had been surveyed " from the Stockport road in Nine 
Partners to the road called Harding's, in Thornbottom;" it was 
laid out the following year, and was seven miles in length. 

[The writer is at a loss to understand the use of the terms 
" Brace Road" and "Stockport Road," in this vicinity. The 
latter may simply have led to the road of that name in Har- 
mony ; the Brace Road of earliest mention was not supposed to 
reach so far west.] 

In 1798 another, from the State line " near the 19th mile- 
stone, via Major Trowbridge's, and thence to the road on the 
waters of Tunkhannock, 108 perches higher up the creek than 
the 16th mile-tree on Tunkhannock road." The road from 
Asahel Sweet's to Solomon Millard's, on the Tunkhannock, was 
ordered in 1800 ; and the same year, another from Robert Cor- 
bett's, on the Salt Lick, via Comfort Capron's, to the same point. 

In 1798 the township officers of Nicholson (13 miles by 20), 
included E. Bartlett, S. Thatcher, E. Stephens, Potter, Casey, 
Tiffany, Millard, and T. Sweet. In 1797 H. Tiffany was poor- 
master. In 1800 Major Trowbridge was collector for Willing- 
borough and Niue Partners. At the first election of officers 
after the erection of the township of Harford, 33 votes were 
polled. 

A military organization was required in 1798 or 1799. Oba- 
diah Carpenter was the first officer. 

Thomas Tiffany was commissioned justice of the peace in 



182 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1799 ; and Hosea Tiffany two or three years afterwards, the 
former having resigned. On the erection of Susquehanna 
County, this commission became void. 

Capt. Asahel Sweet, 1 now (1869) ninety-two years of age, is 
able to recall the following incident, which occurred about 

1800 :— 

He started with his oxen and cart to carry grain to Hallstead's 
mills, at Thornbottom. At Rynearson's (in Lenox), he reached 
the end of the road, and was obliged to push into the stream 
and travel down it five miles, until he reached Marcy's saw- 
mill, where the water in the race was so deep he had to betake 
himself again to the shore ; but from this point there was a 
road which he followed two miles to the grist-mill. Returning, 
he retraced'his course up the stream five miles. The weather 
was warm. 

He was married January 1, 1801, and moved in April follow- 
ing to the farm ever since occupied by him. His enterprise 
procured the first cannon in the county. On one occasion he 
hid it in the "Pulk" to keep it from being carried off to Wilkes- 
Barre. The Harford artillery was often in requisition in other 
places on Independence Day. 

Nathan Maxon, from R. I., settled in 1800 on the farm where 
Almon Tingley lives. His daughter, Mrs. Leonard Titus, now 
(1869) 81 years of age, has spun 13 or 14 lbs. of wool during 
the past summer, besides knitting five pairs of socks. In the 
olden time, when 30 knots of linen thread were a day's work, 
her week's work was accomplished in five days. This was the 
ambition of "the girl of that period." 

Jacob Blake was here about 1802 or 3. He died in 1849, 
aged 74. 

Rufus Kingsley came in 1809, from Windham, Conn. He 
had been a drummer in the battle of Bunker* Hill. His farm 
was the one since owned by his son John at Kingsley's station 
on the Del. L. and W. R. R. 

Thos. Wilmarth was the first constable (1808?). 

In 1810 there were 477 inhabitants; in 1820, 641, and in 
1830, 999. 

The first store in Harford village was on the corner, north- 
west of Dr. Streeter's, kept by a Mr. Griswold, as early as the 
fall of 1812 or spring of 1813. At that time Joab Tyler lived 
above Dr. S., on the brow of the hill. Joab T. and Laban Ca- 
pron were commissioned J. P.'s in 1813. Mr. Capron resigned 

' He died March 13, 1872, aged nearly ninety-four and a half years. The 
compiler considers her interview with him (in 1869) one of the greatest privi- 
leges of her route through the county, permitting the remembrance of a beau- 
tiful picture of old age, confiding in the ministry of a daughter, who for 
eighteen years occupied the house alone with him. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 183 

soon after, and Hosea Tiffany, Jr., was commissioned. He re- 
signed in 1826, and was followed by Samuel E. Kingsbury. 
Mr. K. died in 1831, and Hosea Tiffany was re-commissioned. 
Mr. T. died in 1836, and was followed by Payson Kingsbury. 
Mr. K. resigned in 1839, and John Blanding was commissioned. 
Since 1840, under the new Constitution, John Blanding and 
Amherst Carpenter were the first justices elected. 

PHYSICIANS. 

Dr. Comfort Capron commenced the practice of medicine in 
Harford (then Tioga township), in 1794, and continued to prac- 
tice until his death in 1800, at the age of 56 years. 

Mrs. Mercy Tyler used to ride on horseback for miles around 
to visit the sick. " On one occasion a person was very sick, 
when the snow was so deep Mrs. T. could not go on horseback ; 
but so very important was her attendance considered, and so 
much confidence prevailed in her skill, that four stalwart men 
volunteered to bring her on their shoulders. Strapping on 
their snow-shoes they proceeded to Mrs. Tyler's house, wrapped 
her up in a blanket, and carried her on their shoulders to the 
house of her patient." 

Dr. Luce came in 1808, but removed after a few years. Dr. 
Horace Griswold came and left prior to 1812. 

Dr. Streeter, a native of Connecticut, came to Harford from 
Cheshire, N. H., in 1812. He was, at first, in the west part of 
the town, with Obadiah Carpenter ; but after his marriage (to a 
granddaughter of Dr. Capron) he removed to the house pre- 
viously occupied by Robert Follet, about a hundred rods above 
his present location. Here he remained while he built what 
is now the middle part of his residence. His ride extended 
into Brooklyn, Lenox, Clifford, Herrick, Gibson, Jackson, Ara- 
rat, Thomson, Harmony, New Milford, and Great Bend. At 
the latter place several physicians had successively settled, but 
only one or two were there in 1813, and for years after. Dr. 
Chandler, of Gibson, confined himself to specialities, and Dr. 
Mason Denison, who had established himself at Brooklyn, left 
after two or three years. Dr. S. continued to practice over forty 
years, and now, at the age of 87 (1872), attended by two 
daughters (the third removed), enjoys his well-earned rest, 
among the people to whom his virtues and his services have 
endeared him. His eldest son, Hon. Farris B. Streeter, is Pre- 
sident Judge of the XHIth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, 
and resides at Towanda ; his second son, Hon. Everett Streeter, 
was at the time of his death, a judge in Nebraska. The 
youngest, Rienzi, resides in Colorado. 

Dr. Clark Dickerrnan, came to Harford in 1832, and remained 
in the practice of his profession until his death in 1853. With- 



184 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

in the last fifteen years, Drs. Edwards, Gamble, and Tiffany, 
natives of the place, have been its physicians : the last has 
deceased. 

Dr. E. N. Loomis is an eclectic physician. 

Harford has furnished other places with physicians from 
among her sons, of whom we can mention Thomas Sweet, of 
Carbondale, Daniel Seaver, Braton Eichardson, late of Brooklyn 
township, W. L. Eichardson, of Montrose, Edward S. Eichardson 
(deceased), Lorin Very, of Centreville, La., Asahel Tiffany, of 
Milwaukee, Wis.; William Alexander, of Dundaff; Henry A. 
Tingley and James D. Leslie, of Susquehanna Depot. 

SCHOOLS, ETC. 

The common school from 1794 ; a church organized in 1800, 
and still efficient ; a library of historical works, and others of 
a substantial character, begun in 1807, and read with care and 
interest; a select school established in 1817, merged into an 
Academy in 1830, and still later into a University ; — may all 
be reckoned as having had powerful influences bearing upon the 
earlier and best interests of the people of Harford, and by no 
means confined to them. We have but to inscribe the name of 
Eichardson to represent the honored instructors of many 
youths in Harford, of whom not a few have since been written 
on the roll of fame, — and better, that of usefulness. 

We append on the next page an illustration of the Harford 
Academy. The buildings, with some alterations made by C. W. 
Deans, Esq., are now used as a Soldiers' Orphan School. 

The early settlers were characterized by industry, frugality, 
morality, and mutual kind feeling. Hardly distinguished in 
interest or employment, or temporal circumstances, they found 
at each other's rude cabins a homely but cordial entertainment. 
Eemote from public roads, they were mostly shut in from the 
rest of the world, and for a time knew little of its agitations. 
For nearly ten years they were also left undisturbed by taxes 
or military duties ; and entirely overlooked by the officers of 
justice in the immense district of which this section formed a 
part. 

The power of moral training, and of public opinion, were 
their officers and exactors. 

" During the first four years, not a professor of religion settled in Nine 
Partners. Still the Sabbath found them resting from their labors. Nor was 
the day devoted to hunting or public amusements. Three of them, who 
during the second season occupied one cabin, were several times annoyed by 
the visits of some one, perhaps from a neighboring settlement, of laxer views 
respecting the sanctity of the Sabbath. On a repetition of the visit, it was 
proposed to read aloud from what they styled ' a good and interesting book,' 
for mutual edification. The expedient was successful, and was the beginning 
of a practice continued through the season. This may be accounted the first 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 
Fig. 17. 



185 




186 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

approach to the form of any part of social worship attempted in the settle- 
ment. 

"Among the settlers of 1794-5. were several professors of religion. In 
the fall of 1794 they were visited by Rev. Mr. Buck, then preaching at 
Windsor, N. Y., and at Great Bend. The visit was soon repeated. His ser- 
mons, the first heard in the place, were preached in a bark-covered cabin, 
which stood in the field a short distance northwesterly from the Congrega- 
tional church. A ' reading meeting' was then by vote determined upon ; 
and on motion of Ezekiel Titus, John Tyler was appointed to conduct it. 
These meetings were sometimes at Amos Sweet's, but oftener at Deacon 
(John) Tyler's — the red house now standing some rods west of the residence 
of H. M. Jones, but then on the site of the latter. They were held regularly 
every Sabbath ; the Scriptures and sermons were read, and, with singing and 
prayer, constituted the humble public worship of the day." 

A recent writer says : — 

" These ' reading meetings' (continued one-fourth of a century) were trans- 
ferred in 1806 to a one-story meeting-house (no spire) ; afterwards to a church 
with steeple and a pulpit half as high as the steeple, with a great east win- 
dow behind the pulpit; and, not a deacon but a reverend, was seen there 
'standing in the sun.' " 

A missionary named Smith preached in Harford a few times ; 
afterwards a Mr. Bolton, an Irishman, was employed to labor 
for a time. A Mr. Thacher paid them a transient visit or two, 
and organized a society, but it never went into operation. The 
missionary visits of Rev. Messrs. Asa Hillier, David Porter, 
and others, are remembered with interest. 

A Congregational church was organized June 15, 1800, by 
Rev. Jedediah Chapman, a missionary from New Jersey, sent 
by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. It con- 
sisted of seven members, viz.: Obadiah Carpenter and his wife, 
Ama, John Tyler and his wife, Mercy, John Thacher, Mercy 
Carpenter, wife of O. Carpenter, Jr., and Miss Mary Thacher ; 
all having letters from the Congregational church in Attle- 
borough, of which Rev. Peter Thacher (father of Mrs. Mercy 
Tyler) was pastor. 

The first revival occurred in the winter of 1802-3, under the 
labors of Rev. Seth Williston, in the service of the Missionary 
Society of Connecticut. 

Joseph Blanding was the first convert. He came to the set- 
tlement in 1794, and remained here until his death, in 1848, in 
the eighty-second year of his age. 

From 1803-10 the church had an occasional sermon from 
missionaries passing through this section. In 1806, a small 
meeting house — twenty-two feet by thirty — had been erected 
on land given by Hosea Tiffany and son ; it was afterwards re- 
moved across the road, and now forms a part of the residence 
of Miss Lucina Farrar. 

In the winter of 1808-9, occurred the second revival, which 
was one of great power. Meetings were held almost daily — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 187 

some of them in what is now Brooklyn and Gibson — then con- 
sidered within the bounds of the same church. Distance, dark- 
ness, and bad roads were no obstruction to the gathering of reli- 
gious assemblies anywhere. The services were conducted prin- 
cipally by Eev. Mr. Griswold, of West Hartwick, N. Y., and 
Eev. Joel T. Benedict, of Franklin, K Y. The latter remained 
only four or five weeks; the former, for awhile afterwards. In 
July following, forty-three persons united with the church, Mr. 
Benedict returning to officiate on the occasion. 

Eev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, who had been pastor of a church 
in Yermont, visited Harford, and received a call to settle, Feb- 
ruary 21, 1810. He was installed in August following, and 
was then nearly fifty years of age. His pastoral labors here 
continued seventeen years, and were crowned with success ; 
several seasons of special religious interest occurring. In 
these he was sometimes assisted by Eev. Messrs. York and 
E. Conger; and the then "new measure" of visiting from 
house to house by the elders was practiced. 

He was a native of Coventry, Conn. He graduated at Yale 
College in 1783, and studied theology with Dr. Backus, of 
Somers, Conn. His labors, under the auspices of the Mission- 
ary Society of Connecticut, began in this county in 1808, and 
were continued, half the time, during his pastorship, and for 
several years afterwards, with feeble churches. 

He travelled over a large part of the counties of Susque- 
hanna, Bradford, Luzerne, and Wayne, on horseback, by marked 
trees and bridle-paths, preaching in log-cabins, barns, and school- 
houses (of which there were a very few at that time), and as- 
sisted at the formation of nearly all the churches in this region. 
He was everywhere esteemed. He had four sons who lived to 
manhood, of whom E. Kingsbury, Jr., was a lawyer, and after- 
wards, speaker of the State Senate. Payson K. was several 
years a deacon in the Harford church. He died in 1843. Wil- 
liston K.'s funeral sermon was the first sermon preached in the 
present house of worship, in 1822 — long before it was finished 
and dedicated. 

Samuel Ely K. became justice of the peace in Harford. 

Eev. E.Kingsbury's death occurred at Harford, March, 1812, 
in the eightieth year of his age. His widow died in 1859, at 
the age of eighty-eight. Her house was ever open to "the 
sons and daughters of want." 

The successor of Eev. E. Kingsbury in the Harford pulpit 
was the Eev. Adam Miller, who began his labors there in 1828; 
was installed April 28, 1830, by the Susquehanna Presbytery, 
having been ordained in the interval. In 1872, he is still at 
his post, having had the longest pastorate of any one in the 
county. 



188 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Seven hundred and ten persons have been connected with 
the church since its organization ; and it is not too much to 
attribute to its influence very much of the prosperity, intelli- 
gence, and high standard of morals that have ever character- 
ized the township. Sabbath-school instruction was commenced 
about 1816. 

The people of Harford were forward in the temperance re- 
formation, in the cause of anti-slavery, and in various objects 
of Christian enterprise — foreign and domestic missions, education 
for the ministry, and distribution of Bibles and tracts. 

From the Congregational church the following persons have 
been furnished for the gospel ministry : — 

Revs. Lyman, Willard, and Preston Richardson ; Washing- 
ton, Moses, and Tyler Thacher; William S. and Wellington 
H. Tyler. 

In 1821, Miss Hannah Thacher, daughter of Obadiah Thacher, 
joined the Choctaw Mission, and while there became the wife 
of Dr. W. W. Pride. The health of the latter failed, and they 
returned to Susquehanna County. [See Gibson and Spring- 
ville.] 

In 1823, Miss Philena Thacher, a sister of Mrs. Pride, 
joined the same mission, married the Eev. B. B. Hotchkin, and 
remained in the nation until her death. 

Eespecting the Harford Baptist church, the record says : — 

"June 6, 1806, brother Thomas Harding, sister Hannah Harding, brother 
Abijah Sturdevant, and sister Polly Sturdevant thought proper to meet 
every Lord's day for to worship God, not having the privilege of meeting 
with the church at Exeter, to which we belonged ; Elder Davis Dimock being 
the pastor." In August, 1809, the four had increased to fifteen; in 1810, 
they first celebrated the Lord's Supper; in 1812, when recognized as a church, 
they numbered twenty members. The place of worship was at the old mill- 
site, in the southeast part of the town, generally called "Harding's," and at 
school and private houses throughout the neighborhood. The formation of 
neighboring churches often weakened the membership, and, in 1841, the 
church was reported to the association as having disbanded. 

In 1853, however, a revival was enjoyed, the church was reorganized with 
twelve members, and the same day (22d Dec), a neat house of worship was 
dedicated, near the Harding mills. The church has never enjoyed much 
pastoral labor. Some of the Baptists in Harford township are members of 
the West Lenox and New Milford churches. 

The Universalist denomination has always been numerous 
in Harford, and formerly a minister was sustained among them 
one-half of the time ; but they never erected a house of worship, 
and at present most of the denomination are connected with the 
societies of Brooklyn and Gibson. 

Within a few years the Methodists have erected a neat church 
at Harford village. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 189 

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 

The marriage of Orlen Capron to Ama Carpenter, October, 
1798, was the first in the settlement. 

The first birth was that of Eobert Follet's son Lewis (who 
died young), September, 1794; the first death, that of an infant 
daughter of the same, and whose burial was the first in the 
village graveyard, December, 1796. The first adult interred was 
Dr. Capron, June, 1800. 

Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, gave a deed, December 6, 
1803, for one acre as a burial-ground, for the use of families 
within three miles of it. Hosea Tiffany and his son Amos, by 
their deed, September, 1824, annexed seventy -five perches on 
the northeast side of the lot, and the whole is now enclosed 
with stone- wall. Mr. Drinker also gave fifty acres in the north- 
ern part of the town for " a ministerial lot ;" in 1830 or 1831 
this land was sold, and the avails were applied to the erection 
of the Congregational parsonage, adjoining the late residence of 
Joab Tyler, Esq., one-fourth of an acre being donated by him 
for that purpose. 

Eight of the " nine partners" were living in 1830, forty years 
after their first visit to the beechwoods of Pennsylvania. In 
1844 only two remained, and in 1872 all are gone. 

Eobert Follet died June, 1809, aged forty-one years ; Caleb 
Eichardson in 1823 ; Hosea Tiffany, April, 1833 ; Samuel 
Thacher, October, 1833 ; Daniel Carpenter, in Massachusetts, 
1835 ; John Carpenter, 1838 ; Josiah Carpenter, in Massachu- 
setts; Moses Thacher, in Massachusetts; Ezekiel Titus, 1846. (?) 
Others of the early settlers died as follows: Obadiah. Car- 
penter in 1810, aged sixty-eight; Asa Yery in 1829, aged fifty- 
three ; Nathaniel Jeffries in 1833, aged seventy-one ; Thomas 
Tiffany in 1835, aged seventy-eight ; Abel Eice in 1837, aged 
seventy-seven ;'] William Coonrod in 1837, aged eighty-four ; 
Obadiah Thacher in 1838, aged eighty ; Elkanah Tingley in 
1838, aged seventy-eight; Aaron Greenwood in 1845, aged sixty- 
four ; Eufus Kingsley in 1846, aged eighty-four, and his wife, 
aged seventy-nine ; Samuel Guile in 1847, aged sixty-five ; 
Abel Eead in 1857, aged eighty-nine ; Amos Tiffany in 1857, 
aged seventy-two ; Eliab Farrar in 1858, aged eighty-five ; 
Austin Jones in 1861, aged seventy-three ; Asaph Fuller in 
1868, aged ninety-two. 

In 1868 there were in Harford fifty-four persons aged over 
seventy ; fourteen over eighty j 1 and one (A. Sweet) over ninety. 

1 Mrs. Hannah Guile, one of this number, died January 3, 1871, aged eighty- 
seven. Of her eleven children, seven are living ; of forty-eight grandchildren, 
thirty are living ; of fifty great-grandchildren, thirty-seven are living. 



190 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

John Gilbert died February, 1869, aged over eighty. He bad 
lived on the same farm in Harford for fifty-five years. 

Of the very few men of our county who lived over a century, 
one was John Adams, a native of Massachusetts, and a Kevolu- 
tionary soldier, who came to Harford in 1837. He was then 
ninety-two, but it was his wish to spend his last days with his 
son James, who came here several years previous. 

Often, after his one hundredth year, he made (and made well) 
a pair of shoes in a day. Four letters written by him when he 
was one hundred and one years old, and published before his 
death in a Massachusetts paper, have been preserved ; they 
evince a wonderful retention of mental faculties, cultivated and 
improved after his maturity, his early advantages being but few. 
He died in 1849, aged one hundred and four years, one month, 
and four days. 

Several cases of death by drowning have occurred in the 
different lakes of the township; and one woman, Esther More, 
was burned to death in May, 1829, when Blias Carpenter's 
house was burned. 

The first inhabitants found a source of revenue in making 
sugar, but more by raising neat cattle; a yoke of good oxen 
would sell at $80 or $100 during the first twenty years after 
the settlement. The demand was occasioned by the lumbering 
business, then carried on extensively upon the Susquehanna 
and Delaware Eivers. 

Major Laban Capron was the first post-master. 

Hosea Tiffany, Esq., had been a ^Revolutionary soldier, and 
was afterwards a pensioner. His first log-cabin stood on the 
ground now occupied by the Congregational church ; his garden 
is now the graveyard. His daughter Nancy was married New- 
Year's, 1800, to Captain Asahel Sweet. She was once greatly 
frightened by wolves which had been attracted by the smell of 
the blood of a sheep her husband had killed and brought into 
the cabin. The night following, when he was in the sugar- 
camp, a mile or more from home, Mrs. S., who was with her 
children in the house, heard wild animals tramping around, and 
she was fearful they would reach the roof, a low sloping one, 
and effect an entrance through the hole left for a chimney. She 
did not lose her presence of mind, but took straw from her bed, 
and during the night threw it upon the fire by handfuls, thus 
keeping them at bay until dawn, when to her inexpressible relief 
she heard them leave. 

An amusing story is told of Hosea Tiffany as justice of the 
peace. He had married a couple, and, soon after, being dissatis- 
fied with each other, they came to him to inquire if he would un- 
marry them. " Oh, yes !" said he, and invited them them to step 
outside a moment. Taking his ax and putting his foot on a log, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 191 

he said, " Let the one who wants to be unmarried first, lay the 
head there!" In 1800 he brought in a barrel of cider, the first 
in town, for which he paid $8; its sale netted him six cents 
profit. The apple-tree at first did not thrive well, but in later 
years there was and is a good share of orcharding. 

In 1810 the first cider-mill was erected on land of H. Tiffany, 
and the first cider was sold for $3 or $4 per barrel. 

In 1827 Thos. Tiffany's orchard yielded 1400 bushels of apples. 

In 1830 Elkanah Tingley made one hundred barrels of cider. 

The year 1833 was a remarkably fruitful one. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GIBSON. 



A movement was made, November, 1812, to divide the town- 
ship of Clifford, then thirteen miles on the east line of the 
county, by nine miles east and west ; and the first court of Sus- 
quehanna County was petitioned to erect the northern half of 
it into a new township to be called Gibson. This name was 
designed to commemorate that of the late Hon. John B. Gibson, 
at that time president judge of the district of which this county 
forms a part. 

It appears that, contrary to the original intention, the west 
line of Gibson was extended about a mile beyond that of Clif- 
ford, making the township ten miles east and west. This took 
from Harford twenty-two taxables, and about a mile square 
from the territory of Lenox. Against the latter encroachment 
a remonstrance was soon presented, but the court declined 
making a review of the township lines on account of the low 
state of the treasury, though granting permission for a renewal 
of the petition at some later period. But no after change in 
the western boundary appears to have been made. Thus very 
desirable territory was gained, including "Gibson Hollow," 
" Kentuck," and a portion of South Gibson. 

But the township was then too large; and, November, 1814, 
the court was petitioned to divide it by a line drawn north and 
south four and a half miles from the western boundary, the new 
township to be called Bern. "Viewers were appointed, but 
nothing further appears relative to the matter. 

One year later another petition was presented, praying to 
have Gibson divided through the centre from north to south, 
the " westernmost'' part to retain the name of Gibson, and the 
new town to be called Lawrence. 



192 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

But, though there were geographical reasons to justify these 
requests — East Mountain and the tall peaks of Elk Mountain 
being nearly in the centre of the township — ten years appear 
to have elapsed before a division was made, when Herrick was 
added to the list of Susquehanna townships. Gibson was then 
left in nearly its present shape, containing about thirty-six 
square miles, which have been slightly reduced by small addi- 
tions to Herrick and Ararat. 

East Mountain extends along half of the eastern boundary of 
Gibson; and, north of it, the valley of the Tunkhannock is 
confronted by other heights which skirt those belonging to the 
" Mount Ararat" of old land-surveys in the adjoining town- 
ship. 

The Tunkhannock Creek, rising in Jackson and Thompson, 
traverses Gibson diagonally through Gelatt Hollow in the north- 
east to the southwest corner, where it enters Lenox. With its 
ten or twelve tributaries, some of which are the outlets of pretty 
ponds, it forms the whole drainage of the township. Stearns' 
Lake, in the northern part, covers several acres of elevated 
ground. 

There is no central place of business for the whole township ; 
consequently the stores, manufactures, and mechanics are prin- 
cipally located at five small villages, viz., Burrows' Hollow, 
Kennedy Hill, South Gibson, Smiley, and Gelatt Hollow. Bur- 
rows' Hollow is located on Butler Creek and the old Newburg 
turnpike, and near the northwest corner of the town ; Smiley, 
four miles distant on the same road, and the main branch of the 
Tunkhannock ; Kennedy Hill, at the summit of the ridge be- 
tween the two creeks ; South Gibson, four miles down the creek 
from Smiley, and near the southwest corner of the town ; Gelatt 
Hollow, one and a half miles up the creek from Smiley, and 
near the northeast corner of the township. 

The vicinity of Kennedy Hill was the first settled. 

It is probable that Joseph Potter, from Ballston Spa, N. Y., 
was the first settler within the present limits of Gibson. In 
1792 or '93 he lived on the farm now occupied by his grandson, 
Oliver Potter. 

After bringing in his family he returned to Ballston Spa for 
a short time on business, leaving his family with only a hired 
man as protector. It was winter, and the cabin was without a 
door. Mrs. P. did not see a woman's face for the first six 
months. 

Capt. Potter, as he was usually called, afterwards moved a 
mile further west, to the farm now occupied by his grandsons, 
Joshua M. and Stephen W. Potter, near the small lake known 
by his name. He died here after a residence of many years. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 193 

He early kept a public house. His sons were: Noah, John, 
and Parley. 

John Belcher, in 1794, came to the farm now owned by Geo. 
Maxey. It extends west from the Union Hill church, and was 
formerly owned by George H. Wells, whose name is marked at 
this place on the county map. Mr. B. lived here until he sold 
it to Abijah Wells, and removed to Lymanville, in Springville 
township. His sons were: John, Ira, Hiram, Michael, and 
Alanson. 

Joshua Jay, a brother-in-law of John Belcher, Sen., must 
have come about the same time. He built the first grist-mill 
where Claflin's mill now stands; also, the old "Skyrin house," 
near the mill, and still standing, which was afterwards the first 
location of Dr. Chandler. He had also a blacksmith shop, but 
he did not remain here many years before removing to "the 
lake country," N. Y. 

A Mr. Brown is said to have lived here about 1796. 

Wright Chamberlin bought a farm of Joshua Jay, May, 1796, 
on the eastern slope of what was called Putt's Hill, about a mile 
east of Burrows' Hollow, and here he spent the remainder of 
his life. He had left Litchfield, Ct., one year previous, and "set 
out with Denman Coe to visit the State of Pennsylvania." From 
his diary, now preserved by Silas Chamberlin, we quote the 
result : — 

" I bought a possession at Hopbottom, and on the 11th of June (1795), I 
set out with Coe's family to carry them into Pennsylvania, and I worked at 
Hopbottom that year from the 26th day of June until the 8th of September 
following, when I set out for Litchfield, in order to move my family to Hop- 
bottom. But, as I passed Nine Partners, Mr. John Tyler persuaded me to 
purchase a possession there. Jan. 21st, A. D. 1796, I bid farewell to the 
State of Connecticut, and on Feb. 26th, 1796, I arrived with my family in 
Nine Partners." 

In August following he removed his family to his new pur- 
chase on Putt's Hill, now in Gibson. 

After the death of his first wife in 1797, he married Sally Hold - 
ridge, daughter of the first pioneer of Herrick. He had three 
wives and twenty-four children. (Some assert that there were 
twenty-eight in all, but the record closes with the birth of his 
son Jackson, in 1833.) His first wife's family consisted of seven 
boys and one girl. Moses C, who died in Gibson, Aug. 1870, 
at the age of 83, was one of those boys, and was eight years old 
when his father left Connecticut. James was another, and was 
the father of Silas Chamberlin, now of New Milford, but who 
was born in Gibson, and lived here 67 years. There are but 
three persons surviving who have lived in the township as long 
as he, viz., the widow of Ezekiel Barnes {a daughter of John 
Belcher, Sr.), and Corbet Pickering, of South Gibson. 
13 



194 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Wright Chamberlin, Jr., another brother, lived for many 
years on the river between Susquehanna Depot and Great Bend. 
He died recently. Wright Chamberlin, Sr., died in 1842, aged 
84. He had been a Revolutionary soldier. For many years he 
was a deacon in the Presbyterian church on Union Hill. 

Prior to 1800, he was a licensed " taverner" in his log house 
on the high ground, a short distance west of Lewis Evans' pre- 
sent house, which he built two or three rods from the house 
raised by Mr. C, Oct. 1814. At a later date in his diary, he 
says: "I moved my new house down to the well." The first 
house stood on the old road, which, in 1807-10, was superseded 
by the Newburg turnpike. 

Our informant says : — 

"There was a good deal of travel over it, and Chamberlin's log tavern was 
not a little frequented. One night the ground floor (as probably the upper 
floor), was entirely covered with lodgers, except a narrow passage from the 
hearth to the outer door, for the accommodation of ' mine host,' who sat up 
through the night to keep a fire for his weary, slumbering guests. Most of 
these were loyalists, or rather, as we should say, ' royalists,' from New Jer- 
sey, who were going to Canada after the war, to claim the British promise 
of a farm to the emigrating tories. But there was also a considerable emi- 
gration from New England and elsewhere to the ' Holland Purchase' in 
Western New York. 

" This previous route of travel varied considerably, in this section, from the 
present track of the old Newburg road, from half a mile to a mile south of 
the former, though in general it had the same well-defined route. Here, in- 
stead of going through the gap, as now, at Smiley's, it crossed the ridge of 
the Tunkhannock Mountain (marked 'East Mt.' on the old county map), 
south of W. Rezean's present place, and came down near D. Reece's, to the 
Tunkhannock Creek, a considerable distance below Smiley's ; and, on the 
west side, up by Thomas Evans' and H. U. Bennett's to the pond of J. Ben- 
nett 2d ; thence up the west feeder of the pond, and over the hill a little west 
of Lewis Evans', or past the old log tavern of Wright Chamberlin, to Bur- 
rows' Hollow and Chiflin's grist-mill ; thence to E. Green's, on the Harford 
line ; thence to Judge Tingley's old place, and on to the Great Bend. Just 
how much it varied from the old road, from this point, is not stated, but 
there was probablv less variation than across the section just mentioned." 

Jotham Pickering, and his brother Phineas, from Massachu- 
setts originally, came to what is now Gibson, in 1798, from a 
farm now owned by Mr. Wellman in New Milford, to which 
they had come in 1793. Corbet, son of Jotham Pickering, 
stated in an article published in the ' Montrose Republican,' that 
his father was " the second inhabitant of Gibson," but as he also 
stated positively, that he was five years on the place where he 
began in 1793, his memory failed him in regard to the settle- 
ment of Gibson, as proved by the diary of Deacon Chamberlin. 
The farm of J. P. was less than half a mile east of Kennedy 
Hill, to which he came with the purpose of uniting his family 
of children with those of Capt. Potter, to establish a school. 
The advantages they were able to command must have been 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 195 

limited, as it is asserted the first teacher in Gibson did not know 
how to write. Mr. 0. Pickering says : — 

" At that time Gibson was indeed a wilderness, and without a figure might 
have been styled a hoivling wilderness, because upon every hand, at all times 
of day or night, could be heard the melancholy howl of the wolf, and very 
often the piercing screech of the panther. Truly those were times that tried 
men's nerves, if not their souls. At this time, moreover, there were no mills 
nearer than Wilkes-Barre, and it was some years before we had the advan- 
tage of any other process of grinding than that of a hard wood stump, dug 
out in the form of a mortar, while the pestle, with which we pounded our 
corn, somewhat resembled a modern handspike. But we could not afford so 
tedious a process in manufacturing our rye ; so we put on the big kettle, 
and boiled a quantity of what is, in these days of improvement, called whiskey 
seeds ; and, really, we found rye and milk much more palatable than rye and 
kerosene. The first mill that I can remember was ten miles distant, nearly every 
step of the way in the woods ; aud the boy that had sufficient nerve and mus- 
cle, had the exalted privilege of mounting a bag of corn, which had first been 
mounted on horseback, and taking up his tedious pilgrimage to the grist- 
mill. 

" At one time, when my uncle Phineas was traveling from New Milford to 
Gibson, the only sign of civilization was here and there a marked tree. 
Losing his way, he wandered, of course, every way but the right. Still he 
was not much concerned, until he was suddenly aroused to real conscious- 
ness by the near howling of wolves. There being no other alternative, he 
climbed a tree, and had but just got notions of safety in his head, when the 
wolves gave him a greeting such as he never forgot while he lived. All that 
night he was favored with music that probably never charmed the savage 
breast. He carried the inevitable old rifle, but the charge got wet, so they 
had things their own way, except the privilege of picking a few human bones, 
till daylight, when the cowardly villains withdrew." 

The sons of Jotham Pickering were Henry, John, Preserved, 
Corbet, and Potter. Corbet came to his present place, in 1833, 
from Gelatt Hollow. 

Phineas settled in the vicinity of Gelatt Hollow. His sons 
were Augustus, Joseph, and John B. 

John Collar made one of the earliest clearings on the Tunk- 
hannock, within the bounds of Gibson. His farm is now occu- 
pied by T. J. Manzer. Unlike most of the settlers of the 
township, he came in from below or near the mouth of the 
creek. He was a great trapper, and caught, in one season, 
nine bears in what has since been called Bear Swamp, near 
South Gibson. A stream of the same name here joins the 
Tunkhannock. 

Between 1798 and 1800, Samuel Carey, the first settler of 
South Gibson, moved in; but died soon after, and was buried 
at the foot of the hill which bears his name. It is on the 
southern line of Gibson, where the northeast corner of Lenox 
joins Clifford. 

In 1800, Samuel Mcintosh and Benjamin Woodruff made a 
beginning in what is called the old Samuel Eesseguie farm. 

In 1802, or 1803, Joseph Washburn, afterwards first justice 



196 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of the peace, settled on Gibson Hill, and put up a blacksmith 
shop, a great accommodation then to settlers for miles around. 
Mrs. N. E. Kennedy and Mrs. Thaddeus Whitney, 1 daughters 
of Joseph Washburn, reside near the old homestead; and Ira, 
his only son, on a part of it. 

Waller and Ebenezer Washburn were brothers of Esq. 
Washburn ; the sons of the first were Samuel, Lyman, Dexter, 
and Julius. 

In 1804, Capt. Eliab Farrar came. He married a daughter 
of Noah Tiffany, and resided some years near his wife's brother, 
Arumah Tiffany, in " Kentuck." He removed to Harford 
about 1818, and died there in 1858, aged 86. His widow sur- 
vives him, is about ninety years old, and has been for seventy 
years a resident of the county. " She says, with tears in her 
eyes and her countenance quivering with emotion," writes a 
correspondent, " that she is thankful that she never went to 
bed hungry, nor put her children, to bed when they wanted 
food ;" but she has known those who have been at times in that 
condition. 

In 1801 or '5, Dr. Eobert Chandler, first P. M. at Gibson Hol- 
low, occupied the Skyrin House. It bears this name from the 
fact that it belonged with land which the wife of John Skyrin 
received from her father, Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia. Mr. 
Skyrin, years later, spent some time here putting up a saw-mill 
and looking after the property, but was not a resident. Dr. 
Chandler exchanged this place with Mr. Drinker for wild land, 
and resided until his death, in 1831, about half a mile east on 
the turnpike. 

The Drinker lands covered most of the township, except in 
the vicinity of the Tunkhannock Creek, which had been 
covered in 1784 by warrants of Mr. Poyntell as far north as 
Jackson Center. 

Stephen Harding, Sen., built the first saw-mill, near the grist- 
mill of Joshua Jay, and bought out the latter, probably as 
early as 1806. Mr. Harding was a millwright, and built the 
second grist-mill at this point, and afterwards sold to N. Claflin 
and Cyrus Cheevers. The latter has since lived in Bridgewater. 
S. Harding removed in 1815. 

There were several additions to the settlement about this 
time, but a number of the first comers had left or were dead. 
The heads of families residing in 1807, within the present town, 
(which was then in Clifford), were: — 

Capt. Joseph Potter and his son John ; John Belcher, Wm. 
Belcher, Joshua Jay, Wright Chamberlin, James Chamberlin, 
Phineas Pickering, John Collar, Sen. and Jr., Joseph and Eben- 

1 Since deceased 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 197 

ezer Washburn, Robert Chandler, Stephen Harding, Sen., 
David and Amos Taylor, Joseph Cole, Olney Sweet, Nathan 
Maxon (left in 1818 for Lenox), James Bennett, John Green, 
George Galloway, Capt. Blias Bell, Ezra Follett, Henry Wells, 
and Capt. Eliab Farrar — twenty-six in all. 

Reuben Brundage was a taxable of Clifford the same year, 
and in 1808 lived on Kennedy Hill. Several taxed in Clifford 
in 1807 were taxed in Harford in 1811, and in Gibson in 1814. 

David Taylor built the hotel still standing on the Newburg 
turnpike east of the creek at Smiley. This, and the Skyrin 
House, and Capt. Potter's tavern, were the only frame houses 
then in Gibson. Amos, son of David Taylor, came here a little 
before his father, and located on the west side of the Tunkhan- 
nock, a mile below the hotel, where his son William now re- 
sides, and where he was born. Amos Taylor also owned a farm 
on East Mountain, which was for a time occupied by William. 

Joseph Cole lived on Kennedy Hill, just west of Jos. Wash- 
burn. Wm. Holmes afterwards had this farm. 

Olney Sweet, a brother of Capt. Asahel S., of Harford, was for 
many years where A. Sweet has since kept a hotel, above Gib- ■ 
son (Burrows') Hollow. His wife was a daughter of Dr. 
Chandler. O. S., died in 1842, aged 65. 

James Bennett was near the outlet of the pond that bears his 
name. He came here from Rockland Co., N. Y. His wife, in 
1807, drove a bear and two cubs from her premises with only 
the help of a dog. She was the first Methodist in Gibson. 
Their sons were, Charles, and Loren G., of South Gibson, Luke 
and John. 

Levi, brother of James Bennett, lived half a mile west of 
Smiley. His sons were, William, George, John, and James. 

The outlet of Bennett's Pond is called Bell Creek, from the 
fact of Capt. Bell's early settlement here. Abijah Wells 
bought this place and Geo. Galloway's next, north of it, also 
John Belcher's, and Sterling Bell's (marked T. Evans on the 
map). He first lived on the last named, gave it afterwards to 
his son Coe, and removed to the Belcher farm ; built a new 
dwelling, etc., there, and remained on the farm until he gave it 
to his son Geo. H. ; he then came to the Elias Bell farm, adding 
to it a strip of the Galloway farm, and building a house, barns, 
etc., as there were previously no buildings of value on the Bell 
farm ; and here he lived and died, leaving this place to his 
widow, and the son of his eldest son, who has long since de- 
ceased. 

Ezra Follett began where Captain Oliver Payne afterwards 
lived. George Galloway was a Dutchman and a very worthy 
citizen. He was the maternal grandfather of the present gov- 
ernor of Virginia, Gilbert C. Walker. The latter was not born 



198 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

in Gibson, as has been stated in the public prints, but in Cuba, 
Alleghany County, New York, during his parents' temporary 
residence there, after leaving Susquehanna County. His mother 
afterwards returned to Gibson, and the present Gov. Walker 
was "put out" for some years with Mr. T., a farmer in the vici- 
nity of " Kentuck." One of his neighbors tells this story : — 

" Mr. T. was a very rigid disciplinarian ; thought children should be always 
on their propriety — miniature men and women. One day he was gone from 
home and young Walker was left alone, for there were no children of his years, 
and the time seemed heavy and long. To ' kill' it he ventured upon an ex- 
pedient which he knew would be a high offence in the eyes of Mr. T. He 
took the only horse, a staid old family beast, and went out for a ride. Sus- 
pecting Mr. T. would be back before his return, he left the horse in the woods 
back of the pasture, and came across the lot to the house, and meeting Mr. 
T., he told him that the horse was out of the lot ; he had seen him over in the 
woods. Whereupon Mr. T. went over and got him back into the lot, and he 
and ' the Gov.' reconnoitered the fence around the pasture to find where the 
horse got out ; the old gentleman never once suspecting the ruse till it was 
too late to call the culprit to an account." 

But this incident occurred many years later than the period 
under consideration. 

It is stated that an old Kentucky hunter came through what 
is now the western part of the township, at an early day ; and 
being struck with its beauty, said it was "equal to old Ken- 
tuck." From this circumstance it took the name which seems 
so odd to a stranger. No one can fail to admire the scenery, so 
varied and pleasing ; and the rich lands which make the section 
not unworthy of its frequent designation — " the garden of the 
county." Its elevation affords views of great loveliness, both 
near and distant. All the prominent points of neighboring 
townships are revealed with a distinctness peculiar to a clear 
atmosphere. The slopes furnish unsurpassed grazing, as the 
butter of the township well exemplifies. The farm-houses bear 
little resemblance to the low, rough structures of early times, 
and with the grounds about them, evince at once the taste and 
wealth of the present inhabitants. The editor of the ' Susque- 
hanna Journal,' after taking a trip in 1870, through Gibson and 
Jackson, speaks of them thus : — 

" They are devoted mainly to dairying. We judge from what we learned 
during our trip, that Gibson sold fully $100,000 worth of butter last year, and 
that Jackson did about the same. The farmers are thrifty and rapidly accu- 
mulating wealth. We saw many fine herds of cattle, and not one unstabled 
or poorly cared for." 

It abounds in productive orchards and gardens. 

Arunah Tiffany lived about 1809, on the highest point of 
w Kentuck" Hill, and remained there, with the exception of two 
years spent in Brooklyn, until his death, in 1863, at the age of 
seventy-eight years. His son, George B., now occupies the old 
homestead. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 199 

From a point west of the house one can see, by the aid of a 
field-glass, the Presbyterian churches of Ararat and Harford ; 
the Soldier's Orphan School buildings in Harford, and the 
Presbyterian church of Gibson. Before its removal, the old 
Methodist church on Kennedy Hill was included in the view. 

The settlement called " Kentuck" was once quite extensively 
known as " Five Partners," as distinguished from the " Nine 
Partners," both being within the former limits of Harford. 

In the fall of 1809, William Abel, James Chandler, Ebenezer 
Bailey, Hazard Powers, and Daniel Brewster, came from Con- 
necticut, and bought land here in partnership ; returned for the 
winter, and, with the exception of the last named, came back to 
Pennsylvania in the spring of 1810. (Mr. Brewster died in Con- 
necticut soon after the others came on. This lot was afterwards 
Elisha Williams's). Their families joined them the following 
fall. 

William Abel and James Chandler went to Philadelphia in 
1812, to arrange business with Mr. Poyntell, from whom the 
purchase of from 6 to 700 acres had been made, and the whole 
tract was deeded to Mr. Chandler, to be deeded to the five by 
lot. Three men came from Harford to appraise the land. The 
average price was $8.00 per acre, at which Mr. Abel received 
his; Mr. Bailey's, $3.25 ; Mr. Brewster's, $3.50; Mr. Chand- 
ler's, $2.75; and Mr. Powers's, $2.50. Samuel Powers, son of 
the last named, is on his father's farm. Joseph, the eldest, set- 
tled in Jackson; Ichabod, another son, was there a short time. 
Hazard Powers, Jr., became a resident of Lenox. 

William Abel lived to the age of ninety-two, and died in 
1869. His sons were, William A., Gurdon L., Sylvester, 
Alonzo, Nelson, Plenry, and Seth. The last two occupy their 
father's farm ; one or two of the others are near. 

James Chandler and Dr Chandler were not relatives, but each 
had a son Charles, one of whom — the son of James — became 
our representative in the State Legislature. 

Before the close of 1809, David Carpenter came from Massa- 
chusetts and settled on " the Kentuck road" (where E. Tiffany's 
name appears on old maps). He was a cousin of two of the nine 
partners of the same family name, and his wife was a sister of 
another — Eobert Follett. They had four children : Chester, 
now dead; Lucy, now Mrs. John Brundage; Mrs. Sabinas 
Walker, and Timothy, a justice of the peace, residing in South 
Gibson. David C. was a resident of Gibson over fifty } r ears. 
He died there May 4, 1861. 

Between the years 1809-1812, George Gelatt, Sen., and Col- 
lins, his son, settled on the Tunkhannock Creek, in the north- 
east corner of Gibson, now well known as Gelatt Hollow, or 
simply " Gelatt." George Gelatt, Sen., lived to be an hundred 



200 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

and one years old, and his wife ninety-seven. Both died in 
Gibson. Their sons were, Collins, Jonathan, George, Richard, 
and Eobert. Richard Gelatt, second, is a son of George Gelatt, 
Jr. 

Benjamin Tingley resided half a mile from Sweet's, on the 
Jackson road'; his brother Daniel a mile further north, and in 
Jackson. 

In 1811, Merritt Hine settled in Gibson, and removed to 
Wayne County in 1844. 

Nathan Guild, George Williams (from Herrick, where he 
settled in 1808), Ezekiel and Amos Barnes — who married 
daughters of John Belcher; Nathaniel Claflin, Nathan Daniels, 
and Capt, Oliver Payne, were all here as early as 1812. Payne's 
Lake takes its name from the location of the last named. 

Nathan Claflin located near the mills known by his name. 
His sons were Watson, and Hermon, deceased ; Naaman F., now 
owning the farm, and John H., who owns the mills. He died 
in 1837, much esteemed. 

Many will remember Rev. Joshua Baker as an old and re- 
spected inhabitant. He died recently. 

Nehemiah Barnes, father of B. and A. Barnes, was a Revo- 
lutionary soldier. He died in Gibson in 1839, aged seventy- 
eight. 

John Denny came to the township from Dutchess County, 
New York, February, 1814; Moses Chamberlin, 1st, a brother 
of Wright Chamberlin, Sr., March, 1814 ; Amos Ingalls, a 
brother-in-law of M. Chamberlin, and father of Rev. R. Ingalls, 
September, 1815; and, within the first three years after 1812, 
Samuel Resseguie, William Holmes, Edward Weyrnar, John 
Brundage, Sterling Bell, William Mitchell, Silas Steenback, 
Noah Tiffany, John Safford, and Otis Stearns. 

In the mean time Gibson had been separated from Clifford, 
but then included twice its present territory. Waller Wash- 
burn was appointed constable by the court, November, 1813, 
but John Potter was the first elected ; John Tyler (then residing 
in that part of the original Gibson which is now Ararat), and 
James Chandler, supervisors; Elias Bell, and N. Maxon, post- 
masters. Joseph Potter, Joseph Washburn, and D. Taylor, 
were then the largest resident tax-payers within the present 
limits of the town. 

Moses Chamberlin, 1st, was a native of Litchfield County, 
Connecticut. When a soldier of the Revolutionary army in 
1776, he kept a diary which was published in one of the Mont- 
rose papers in 1837, and which is worthy of re-publication. 
After the war he went to Vermont, married and remained there 
until he came to this county, with the exception of a year when 
he lived in Constable, Franklin County, New York. This was 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 201 

during the war of 1812-15, and as that township was next to 
the Canada line, he was driven away. On coming here, he 
located where his son, S. S. Charaberlin, now lives. Another 
son, the Eev. William C, became a missionary to the Creek 
Indians in Georgia. The father had been a justice of the peace, 
and was usually called Esquire Chamberlin. Each of the senior 
brothers, Moses and Wright, had a son Moses. 

Deacon Otis Stearns was a son of Joseph, who came to Har- 
ford in 1792, but located in Mount Pleasant a year or two later. 
While there he had to come nine miles to Captain Potter's to 
get his axes sharpened. When Deacon Stearns settled in Gib- 
son, he bought 240 acres of Joseph Potter, and remained on 
that place three years keeping tavern, when he removed to the 
farm where he spent the rest of his life, near the lake that bears 
his name. Here he built a grist-mill in 1819. He died in 
1858. His widow, a daughter of Captain Potter, died in Gib- 
son eleven years later, in her eighty-second year. "She was 
born in Saratoga County, New York; came with her father to 
Susquehanna County in 1792 ; was fifty years a member of the 
Baptist church, and lived and died a Christian." 

John Denny and John Safford bought of George Gelatt, Jr., 
lands and improvements near Smiley. Two years afterwards, 
the former was an innkeeper, and Mr. Safford had two mills at 
Smiley, which were burned in 1822. 

In 1816, a Mr. Mory (or Mowry) kept a store six months at 
Clafiin's mills — the first merchant of the township. 

In 1817, James and William Noble kept one the same length 
of time in Burrows' Hollow. They afterwards established a 
store in Brooklyn. 

About this time or a little prior to it, Fitch Eesseguie, a son 
of Samuel, and then only a lad of eight or ten years, was lost 
in the Elkwoods, and lay out all night, or rather perched in a 
tree-top, while the wolves howled around until the break of 
day. 

About 1816, David Taylor sold his tavern to Asahel Norton. 
It was afterwards kept in succession by N. Webber, Charles 
Forbes, Lewis Baker, Aaron Green, Joel Steenbeck, Samuel 
Holmes, etc. The place was well known to travelers on the 
Newburg turnpike in its palmiest days. 

Willard Gillett was here in 1817 and possibly earlier. He 
was a brother-in-law of William Abel. His sons were, Roswell 
(who died years ago, leaving a family), Jacob L., and Justin W. 
The latter two live in Gibson. 

John Gillett, an older brother of Willard's, came much later 
than he. This family have left the county, with the exception 
of a daughter in Dundaff. 

In 1817, Charles Case was located on the farm until recently 



202 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

occupied by his son, William T. Case, Esq. Another son, 
Horace, lives in Jackson, and a third, Treadwell, in Wayne 
County. 

Silas Torrey was near Kentuck; Bben Witter (afterwards 
town clerk), and Enos Whitney, Sen., near Gelatt Hollow. The 
latter died October, 1846, aged eighty-four. His sons were 
Thaddeus, Belius, Enos, and Everett. 

David Tarbox was a saddler at Gibson Hollow in 1818, and 
succeeded Dr. Chandler as postmaster in 1825. 

George Conrad, son of William Conrad, or Coonrod, who 
came to Brooklyn in 1787, settled in South Gibson in 1818. 

Elections for Gibson and Jackson — both then in their origi- 
nal extent — were held at the house of James Bennett. 

Long prior to this the sons of the pioneers began to figure on 
the tax-lists. Corbet Pickering, now of South Gibson, came of 
age in 1818, and lived at Gelatt Hollow, where he then mar- 
ried a daughter of Dr. Denny. This now aged couple recently 
celebrated their golden wedding, and from Mr. P.'s published 
account of it is copied a part of his statements respecting his 
family : — 

" We have raised up a large family of children, eleven of whom are now 
living, and four have gone to the better land. Our grandchildren now num- 
ber fifty-two, our great-grandchildren nine, and peace seems to reign on 
every hand. Ours was no ordinary pleasure on the 17th September, 1868, 
when, sitting at the table spread with the good things of life, in company with 
most of our children, and many of our neighbors, numbering in all above one 
hundred." 

Parley Potter kept tavern with his father at the old home- 
stead in 1819. 

John Seymour bought of Joseph Washburn and William 
Holmes, and kept store on the corner now occupied by N. E. 
Kennedy. He left the place six years later. Ebenezer Blanch- 
ard was at Gelatt Hollow. 

April, 1819, Urbane Burrows came to the locality which has 
long been known by his name, and engaged in the mercantile 
business, which he successfully prosecuted for thirty-six years. 
From 1856 to 1861 he was associate judge of the Susquehanna 
County courts. His latest enterprise, noticed on a later page, 
is a fitting exponent of his character. 

Artemas Woodward settled in Gibson the same year with the 
above, and his son George came the following year. 

In 1822 Tyler (Joab), Seymour & Co. had a tin and sheet iron 
factory on G-ibson Hill. A year or two later, William A. Boyd 
came to the place, and after the removal of John Seymour was 
of the firm of Tyler, Boyd & Co., merchants. 

As early as 1824 Goodrich Elton carried on the business of 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 203 

wool-carding and cloth-dressing at Smiley, and remained here 
until his death in 1865. 

In 1825 the name of Sabinas Walker, the father of Gov. G. 
C. Walker, first appeared on the tax-list of Gibson. His bro- 
thers, Enos, Keith, Arnold, and Marshall were also here. 

At this time the oil-stone quarry in the eastern part of the 
township, was owned by Kenneth Fitch, a resident of New 
York, who employed men to work it, kept a small stock of 
goods at Forbes's hotel, and came here occasionally to look at 
the business, which was usually left to the management of his 
agent, Henry K. Niven, from Newburg, N. Y. The latter 
married Jane (afterwards Mrs. Lusk), daughter of M. Du Bois, 
Esq., died early, and is buried at Great Bend, where their 
daughter, Mrs. Dr. Patrick, now resides. The quarry was 
worked but a year or two, the stone proving too soft. 

In 1826 Eoswell Barnes bought a saw-mill of Kobert Gelatt, 
and located in the extreme northeast corner of Gibson. 

John Collar sold the old place on the Tunkhannock Creek to 
Peter Eynearson. Horace Thayer erected a house and kept a 
store on Gibson Hill. 

About 1827 Tyler, Boyd & Co. sold their store to P. K. Wil- 
liams, and a year or two later, a house and lot to Dr. Chester 
Tyler (see Physicians). 

In 1830 Charles Chandler 2d was appointed justice of the 
peace in Gibson. 

In 1831 Mr. Thayer leased his store to Burrows & Kennedy; 
F. A. Burrows (see Springville), brother of Judge Burrows ; and 
N. E. Kennedy, who had been clerk for the latter three years. 

In 1835 N. E. Kennedy bought out P. K. Williams, and has 
continued the mercantile business here to the present time. The 
hill which takes its name from his location is often pronounced 
Canada Hill ; it is the one previously called Gibson Hill. 

Mr. Williams became a Presb3 r terian minister, and was settled 
for a time in Onondaga County, N. Y. He afterwards returned 
to this county and entered into business, and is now a merchant 
at Nicholson. 

John Smiley came to Gibson in 1835, and the next year he 
and Gaylord Curtis (now of Susquehanna Depot) had a store, 
where the former continued to do business thirty-five years. 

J. and J. T. Peck had a provision store at this point, now 
called Smiley. 

Silas Steenbeck was the owner of a grist-mill here for many 
years. 

In 1836 William H. Pope came to Gelatt Hollow and began 
the woolen factory still in operation there, though a branch of 
the business is carried on at Smiley in the building once occu- 
pied by Goodrich Elton. 



204 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Lawrence Manzer bought of P.Bynearson the old Collar farm. 

William Purdy kept a hotel on the hill, the house and lands 
of Horace Thayer being transferred to him. Aaron Green kept 
the one at Smiley. 

In 1837 the Lenox and Harmony turnpike from Smiley to 
Lanesboro, was constructed. 

In 1739 a division of the county was agitated, and it was 
proposed to take out Gibson with Clifford and adjoining town- 
ships, to form a new county with parts of Luzerne, and to make 
Dundaff the county seat. Happily for Susquehanna this and 
similar projects have fallen through. 

About this time the Welsh began to extend their settlement 
into Gibson from the base and vicinity of Elk Hill, where they 
had been located several years. John Owen was one of the 
earliest in Gibson, and his sons are here now. He came from 
North Wales. There are about twenty-four families of the 
Welsh settlement now in Gibson, and they are among its most 
respected and well-to-do citizens. "It is their characteristic 
and habitual endeavor to establish the sanctuary and its ordi- 
nances wherever they establish themselves." The cultivation 
of their natural love of music has afforded them and the com- 
munity rich treats of enjoyment. 



Early in 1867 George H. Wells, late representative from 
Susquehanna County, prepared a table of the aged of Gibson, 
the youngest of whom was 70 and the oldest (William Abel) 
was 91. There were in all thirty-eight persons — nineteen men 
and nineteen women. The average age of the men was 78§- and 
of the women 75| years. The list included seven married 
couples, all married over half a century, the average time being 
56 years. Seven of the men and three of the women were over 
80; twenty-four in the list were over 75. Half of the whole 
number were born in Connecticut and six were born in Wales. 
The table did not contain a native-born Pennsylvanian. All 
the men were farmers, and all the women but two were then, or 
had been, farmers' wives. Only one of the whole list had never 
married. The one who had resided longest in the township 
(74 years), as well as longest in the county, was Mrs. Lois 
Stearns, widow of Deacon Otis Stearns. Her death has already 
been mentioned ; many others on the same list are now gone. 
"Four aged ladies were buried in the course of one week in 
Gibson, in January, 1869, the sum of their ages being 312 years." 

The table gave convincing proof of the healthfulness of Gib- 
son. 

Mr. "Wells adds : — 

" Persons from a less salubrious climate will be surprised to find here men 
and women near seventy years of age who appear to be in the prime of life, 



HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 205 

and some of the men in the above list over eighty are no easy competitors in 
the harvest and hay field. . 

" The most of these were pioneers of a portion of Susquehanna County ; and 
as our forefathers fought to establish the principles of liberty and free govern- 
ment, so these have braved the hardships of frontier life, and fought the 
rugged wilderness to give strength and material prosperity to our beloved 
country. They have also made happy homes for their descendants." 

POST-OFFICES, Etc. 

Dr. Kobert Chandler was probably the first postmaster in 
Gibson. 

In the spring of 1832 " Kentuckyville" post-office was estab- 
lished, Stephen P. Chandler, P.M. It has long been discon- 
tinued. 

There are now three post-offices in the township: Gibson, 
Smiley, and South Gibson. 

The Gibson post-office, with a daily mail, is at Burrows' Hol- 
low ; the morning mails from New York and Philadelphia are 
now due at 5 o'clock P. M. This is the largest of the villages ; 
its has thirty-three dwellings, two churches, two stores, a tan- 
nery, two carriage factories, two blacksmith shops, two harness 
shops, a shoe shop, a tin and sheet-iron shop, a cabinet and 
joiner shop, a grist-mill, and two saw-mills. Population, 155. 

A newspaper correspondent in 1869, speaks of South Gibson 
as 

"An unpretending little town, situated on the Tunkhannock, about mid- 
way between Susquehanna Depot and Nicholson. It contains about thirty 
dwelling houses, a hotel, a grist-mill, three stores, a tailor shop, a black- 
smith shop, a doctor's office, a justice's ofiice, a school-house, and last, but 
not least, a new Methodist church. 

" This village is nearly surrounded by hills, which shut out the wind, making 
it very warm ; besides, the days are somewhat shortened, as the sun does not 
rise here till late and retires behind the hills at an early hour, but on these 
hill-sides the first green grass is seen in early spring, and here the first ber- 
ries ripen in summer. 

" This town has enjoyed a large trade for the past five years, people coming 
from many miles around to do their trading. The surrounding country is 
settled by well-to-do farmers, who possess beautiful farms and fine buildings. 
Dairying is carried on to a considerable extent, every farm having some cows, 
and many from twenty to twenty-five. This place sustains a Good Templars' 
Lodge, which represents almost every family in the vicinity. Not one-tenth 
as much liquor is now sold in the place as before the Lodge was organized." 

In 1871 a uniformed militia compan}^ was organized, James 
M. Craft commanding officer. 

There are seven stores in the township ; one at Smiley, and 
Kennedy's, in addition to those mentioned. 

SCHOOLS. 

In 1807 there was but one school-house in Gibson, and that 
was roofed with bark. It stood on Union Hill, about forty rods 



206 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

from James Bennett's house. Miss Molly Post taught the school, 
and Charles Bennett, now of South Gibson, was one of her 
pupils. Lyman Eichardson, since a faithful pastor, and the 
honored head of the University at Harford, taught a school in 
Capt. Potter's house during the winter of 1808 and 1809. A 
Mr. Follett is mentioned as a teacher prior to 1810, and, it is 
possible, prior to Miss Post. 

District schools were gradually increased ; they now number 
eleven, with an average attendance of nearly two hundred. 

In 1828, the Rev. Roswell Ingalls had a select school for six 
months in the old Presbyterian church on Union Hill, and in 
1829, in the school-house, near Mr. Abel's. 

The Gibson Academy, still standing on Kennedy Hill, was 
built mainly through the influence of Joseph "Washburn, Esq., 
President of the Board of Trustees. It was ready for occu- 
pancy in 1841, but no academic school was held in it for any 
time worthy of notice. Select schools, at different periods, were 
taught here, first by Miss R. S. Ingalls, and Mr. Maxon, from 
Harford, then by J. J. Frazier, and afterwards, a Mr. 
Blatchley, from Wayne County, taught one year. The next 
select schools were held in Gibson Hollow. 

In 1859 A. Larrabee, since county superintendent, taught 
here for a time. The Misses Stevens, from Vermont, suc- 
ceeded him for three years ; M. L. Hawley and assistants three 
years; a Miss Bush, and possibly other teachers since. 

RELIGIOUS. 

Gideon Lewis, a Baptist Evangelist, appointed about 1806, 
was the first resident minister of Gibson. His name appears 
on the tax-list of Clifford (which included Gibson), in 1807, 
marked "clergyman;" but there was then no religious organi- 
zation within the present limits of Gibson, the first being ef- 
fected by Elijah King (a traveling preacher on Broome Circuit, 
which extended across the Susquehanna River, south of Great 
Bend), who formed a Methodist class in Gibson in 1812 or 1813. 
Of this George Williams was leader, and Margaret Bennett, 
Sarah Willis (afterwards wife of John Belcher), Susanna Ful- 
ler, and J. Washburn, the other members. [See ' Early Meth- 
odism,' by Dr. Geo. Peck.] In 1810 a class had been formed 
at " Kent's Settlement," afterwards Gibson, and now Herrick. 

Christopher Frye is said to have preached the first Metho- 
dist sermon in Gibson. He was on the Wyoming Circuit as 
early as 1806, and the circuit then included Hopbottom (or 
Brooklyn). 

Dr. Geo. Peck states that "the first Methodist sermon in 
Gibson was preached at the house of a Mr. Brundage, a Baptist, 
on what is now called the Thomas place." This is evidently a 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 207 

misprint, and should be the Holmes place, now Kennedy's, near 
where the Methodist church stood before its removal to South 
Gibson. Dr. Peck himself traveled the circuit through Gibson 
in 1819. He says of Frye : " He was a large man, had a great 
voice, and a fiery soul. Great revivals followed him." 

Of Nathaniel Lewis, of Harmony (now Oakland), a local 
preacher, who early held meetings in this section: "He was 
rough as a mountain-crag, but deeply pious. He could read 
his Bible and fathom the human heart, particularly its develop- 
ments among backwoodsmen. Obtaining information of a place 
where there had been no religious worship, some distance from 
his home, he visited the place. He went from house to house 
inviting the people to come out to meeting. He took for 
his text : ' Ye uncircumcised in heart and ear, ye do alivays resist 
the Holy Ghost.'' Many were pricked in the heart; a great 
revival followed ; and seventy souls, who were happily con- 
verted to God, dated their conviction from that sermon." 

"William Chamberlin, whose parents resided at Gibson, was 
licensed to preach September 17, 1817, and was ordained by the 
Susquehanna Presbytery at Harford, JSTov. 12, 1817, "to preach 
the gospel to the aborigines." He joined the Cherokee Mission 
in company with Eev. Asa Hoyt, also a member of the Sus- 
quehanna Presbytery. 

A Congregational society was organized in Gibson, Nov. 21, 
1818, by Eevs. B. Kinsbury, M. M. York, and O. Hill. It was 
composed of ten members : Wright Chamberlin and wife, Wil- 
liam Holmes and wife, John Seymour, Abigail Case (wife of 
Charles Case), Eunice Whitney (afterwards Mrs. Moses Cham- 
berlin, Jr.), Deborah Burton, Ann Holmes, and Betsey Holmes. 

W. Chamberlin and W. Holmes were chosen deacons, and 
John Seymour clerk. The first communion was administered 
Nov. 23/1818, by Rev. M. M. York. Sept. 26, 1820, the Sus- 
quehanna County Domestic Missionary Society was formed and 
this church became auxiliary to it. 

There were no additions to the church-membership until 
Nov. 18, 1821, when Arunah Tiffany, wife, and mother, and 
Polly Follett joined the church. About this time Rev. B. Con- 
ger, employed by the Susquehanna County Domestic Mission- 
ary Society, labored in Gibson, and more than usual religious 
interest existed. Near the close of the year, Rev. John Beach 
came among them ; and March, 1822, the people agreed to hire 
him for one year. Of forty-three who were pledged to his sup- 
port, thirty-six were living a quarter of a century later. The 
details of the subscription contrast too well with the present 
ability and liberality of the town to be omitted : Total amount of 
cash subscriptions, $35.25 ; of good wheat, equivalent to $16 ; rye 
and corn, $86 ; oats, $100 ; butter, $114 ; something undeciphera- 



208 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ble, $150 ; sugar, $81 ; flax, $102; wool (besides three sheep), $47. 
(Besides 105 lbs. of pork, $5 in boots and shoes, and $5 in mer- 
chandise). 

The agreement was to pay this " to the Trustees of the Pres- 
byterian Society of Gibson." It is certain the church sent dele- 
gates to the Presbytery about this time. 

Eev. Mr. Beach brought his family to Kentuck, in May, 1822, 
and was with the church two years and a half. [The statements 
that follow, down to 1863, appear in the church records Written 
by Deacon Tiffany] : — 

" In the spring of 1823 A. Tiffany gave the use of an acre, which was 
planted with corn, and cultivated by the people of Kentuck, for the use of 
the County Missionary Society. In 1824 one acre of land on Union Hill was 
purchased from James Bennett for $20, by the church and society, and they 
then contracted with Elisha Williams to build a meeting house (36 x 26 feet, 
and 12 feet between joists, with arched beams), to be finished outside and 
the floor laid (the timber being found for him) for $100. Nearly half this 
sum was subscribed by the people of Kentuck. In 1825 the missionary acre 
was sold for $20. 

"From 1828 to 1830, the Rev. Jas. Russell was half the time in Gibson, 
and the other half in Mt. Pleasant. Rev. Isaac Todd, sent out by the O. S. 
Educational Society of Philadelphia, labored through the years 1830 and 
1831. His salary was $250 per year, and he was boarded. A. Tiffany, M. 
Chamberlin, Esq., and Deacon William Holmes were responsible for four 
months each. The Educational Society gave $100 each year. 

" The weekly prayer-meeting was kept up, and ' the church was never mora 
blessed with a spirit of fervent prayer before nor since. There was not a 
communion season in the two years but that more or less were added to the 
church.' 

" Mr. Todd was instrumental in getting the church finished inside and 
out, and he obtained $60 in New Jersey to secure a charter of incorporation, 
which was finally had in 1834. Early in January, 1833, the slips were sold 
for $108. In October, 1833, the form of government was changed to Pres- 
byterian, and J. Chamberlin, Arunah Tiffany, J. B. Buck, and P. K. Williams 
were chosen elders. The Rev. Samuel T. Babbit preached through this year. 
[The first two were chosen deacons, May, 1854.] January 1, 1834, Alonzo 
Abel and E. Whitney, Jr., were ordained deacons. The latter died, May, 
1852. The first case of discipline was reported in 1835. In the following 
year the Rev. John Sherer was employed, and, by vote, the slips were to be 
free. 

" During the next ten years Revs. M. Thatcher, Lyman Richardson, and 
Eli Hyde occupied the pulpit. July, 1846, Rev. Geo. N. Todd came as stated 
supply for this church, in connection with the one at Ararat ; and November, 
1847, he became the first installed pastor. About this time there was a dis- 
cussion as to the propriety of moving the church edifice over to the turn- 
pike, near the Methodist church then standing on Gibson's Hill. It was 
decided in the negative. A Sabbath-school was organized with ten or fifteen 
scholars ; Deacon Abel, Superintendent. In June, 1849, one person joined 
the church on profession of faith — ' the first in ten or twelve years.' " [This 
would indicate in spiritual matters a somnolence equal to that exhibited in 
person by the church members of that day, when 'perhaps not a member 
but got lost in sleep during the exercises of the Supper!' But, possibly, 
this tendency to ' sleep in meeting' was not stronger in Gibson than else- 
where in farming communities, when those who were actively employed in 
the open air during most of the waking hours of six days, found it difficult to 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 209 

do otherwise than observe the command to rest on the seventh. At this 
time the church numbered but 33. Three years later there were three more 
members, making 109 from the organization of the church to March, 1852. 

But as little life as the church, by its own record, had evinced, there 
were yet in it a few things worthy of imitation. The members prayed for 
each other by daily rotation. When one of the female members, who had 
been bed-ridden for years, appeared in church for the first time after her re- 
covery, the fact was noted on the books of the church — showing that each 
member was of value to all the others.] 

Eev. Mr. Todd's pastoral relation to the people of Gibson 
and Ararat was dissolved December, 1853. Early in 1855, 
Rev. 0. W. Norton took his place, and occupied it three 
years. 

In November and December, 1856, some unusual religious 
interest in the community is noted. The Rev. Mr. Allen came 
in August, 1858, and still continues as pastor of the Union Hill 
Church. 

Silas Chamberlin was chosen deacon in 1858. 

The subject of a new church edifice was agitated in the 
spring of 1863, but one was not begun until 1868 ; it was 
finished and dedicated July 7th, 1869. 

The first Methodist church was erected in 1837, on Kenn edy 
Hill. In 1868, it was sold to be taken down and removed to 
South Gibson, where it was re-erected ; the same frame, out- 
side covering of the walls, wainscoting, slips, doors, etc. — all 
used, with the addition of a lecture-room, built new ; and the 
whole neatly finished. 

The Methodist church at Gibson Hollow was begun in 1868, 
and completed and dedicated June 3d, 1869. Just prior to this, 
a newspaper correspondent described it correctly thus : — 

''The taste, personal supervision, and pains-taking liberality of Judge 
Burrows, have been strikingly manifest in the projection and completion of 
this edifice. Messrs. Perry, Scott, and Shepardson have won for themselves 
an enviable reputation by the mechanical skill they have evinced in the exe- 
cution of their work. It will bear the closest scrutiny, and speaks for itself. 
The walls and ceiling of the building are appropriately frescoed. The win- 
dows are of stained glass. The pulpit is well proportioned, and constructed 
of black walnut, with tastefully turned columns and well proportioned panels 
and mouldings. The slip ends are made of red oak with black walnut trim- 
mings. The wainscoting and breastwork are also of the same materials. 
The building has been carpeted throughout, and is heated by a furnace in 
the basement, on new and improved principles. The steeple, or tower, is 
unique, and is furnished with a silvery-toned bell from the foundry of Jones 
& Co., Troy, N. Y. One of Mason & Hamlin's organs is ordered, and it 
is expected will be on hand prior to dedication. There is a lecture-room 
in the rear of the church, which is used for Sabbath-school and other meet- 
ings. The folding doors in the recess behind the pulpit, can be thrown 
back, and thus increased accommodation can be secured on extraordinary 
occasions. Take it all in all, as to workmanship, chaste execution, and 
general convenience, we hesitate not to pronounce it a model country 
church." 

14 



210 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The cost, including the bell and furnishing, was about $11,- 
500. There is probably no better finished church edifice in the 
county. 

The Baptists of Gibson united with those of Jackson, and 
were organized as a church by Elder D. Dimock in 1825. 
They then belonged to the Abington Association, but were dis- 
missed to that of Bridgewater in 1828. (See History of Abing- 
ton Association, by E. L. Bailey.) 

Their meetings were formerly held in a school-house (now 
burned), above Pope's mills; when they built a church it was 
at Jackson Corners. Among their regular pastors were Elder 
G. W. Leonard in 1831 ; J. B. Worden, 1844-51 ; N. Callender, 
1852 ; E. G. Lamb, 1853. 

The Universalist church was built about 1839 at Gibson Hol- 
low, but there was no regular church organization until thirty 
years later. 

There are now five churches — Methodist and Universalist 
at Burrows' Hollow; Presbyterian on Union Hill; Methodist at 
South Gibson, and Old School Baptist on the creek above Gelatt 
Hollow. 

In 1829, a violent opposition was made to secret organiza- 
tions by many in the township, and at the same time earnest 
effort was begun in the temperance cause. 

PHYSICIANS. 

For several years after the settlement, Gibson was dependent 
upon other towns for medical assistance, or at least upon such 
as were outside of its present limits. Dr. Chandler, in 1804, 
and Dr. Denny, ten years later, were confined to specialties, 
and it does not appear that a regular U M. D." came to the town- 
ship until 1824, when Dr. Wm. W. Tyler advertised his arri- 
val. Apparently his stay was short; but, in 1825, Dr. Chester 
Tyler (not related to the former) established himself on Ken- 
nedy Hill, where he remained in practice until his death in 
1846. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He had 
six children ; his only son, James, resides in Montrose. 

In January, 1830, Dr. Wm. W. Pride, a returned missionary 
from the Choctaws, was established at Burrows' Hollow. He 
remained there about four years, and then removed to Spring- 
ville. Luther Price took his house and lot, which are now 
owned and occupied by Wm. T. Case. Esq. 

About the same time (1834) Drs. J. W. and G. N. Brundage 
(brothers) came from Orange County, N. Y. Both are now dead, 
as is also Dr. D. F. Brundage, son of the former. Dr. G. N. 
Brundage died in 1838. The house occupied by his brother for 
many years is now owned by D. Pritchard. 

The water cure buildings, erected by Dr. D. F. Brundage, 
were recentty burned. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 211 

Dr. E. L. Brundage, 1 a brother of the first two Drs. Brundage, 
located in Franklin about the same time they came to Gibson ; 
and now he arid his son, Dr. Norman B., are at South Gibson. 
At the latter place Dr. Charles Drinker was established in suc- 
cessful practice until within a week or two of his decease, 
October, 1869, at the house of his father, in Montrose, Pa. 



CHAPTER XV. 

RUSH. 

Eush is the fifth of those townships of old Luzerne of which 
the area was comprised wholly, or in part, of territory after- 
wards set off to Susquehanna County. 

1801. — At January sessions of the court of Luzerne County, 
a petition was presented for the erection of a new township to 
be called Rush, its boundaries to extend 

"From the fortieth to the twenty- seventh milestone on the State line — the 
northwest corner of old Lawsville — thence south eighteen miles, thence west 
eighteen miles to a corner in the line north of old Wyalusing Township, 
south of Wysox, to a point due east from Standing Stone, thence north five 
miles to a corner, thence east five miles, thence to the place of beginning." 

The report of viewers appointed at that time was made in 
the following November. Though it was accepted, it is evident, 
from the bounds of the township as always afterwards recog- 
nized, that an error occurred in their statement of the limits of 
the northern line — "To begin at the forty-first milestone and 
extend thirteen miles to the twenty-eighth milestone" — thus 
failing to reach Lawsville by one mile. [The milestones were 
numbered from the Delaware River westward.] Also, upon 
the erection of Susquehanna County, its west line extended 
south from the fortieth milestone, and from all that can now be 
ascertained, the west line of Rush was the county line for thir- 
teen miles; five miles square remained in Bradford (then 
Ontario) County. Practically, the township extended east to 
the line of old Nicholson; and south, at least, to the line of 
Susquehanna County, as afterwards run. A portion of Brain- 
trim (now Auburn) may be excepted ; but the taxables of Rush, 2 
for the year 1801, included residents of Springville and Brook- 

1 Since deceased. 

2 Rush, or Rindaw — both names being given to the election district — 
although "Rindaw," by the Yankees, was confined to a very small town, as 
marked on a map of Connecticut surveys, 1799. 



212 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

lyn, or those who, without change of locality, were afterwards 
included in the latter townships. Bush was then the ninth of 
ten districts for justices in Luzerne ; and, apparently, also for 
elections; the tenth included Nicholson, Lawsville, and Wil- 
lingborough. Isaac Hancock was justice for the former dis- 
trict, and Asa Eddy, Thomas Tiffany, and John Marcy were 
justices for the latter. Nicholson, as well as Eush, extended 
beyond the line of our county, and Justices Hancock and Marcy 
were never its residents. 

Upon the erection of Bridgewater, November, 1806, Eush 
received definite limits; being left eight miles on the State line, 
by eighteen miles north and south. 

The township was named in honor of Judge Jacob Eush, 
president of the courts of Common Pleas in the circuit con- 
sisting of the counties of Berks, Northampton, Luzerne, and 
Northumberland. For seven years previous he had been chief 
justice of the Supreme Court, but, on the re-appointment of 
Judge McKean to that office, he accepted the position of circuit 
judge August, 1791. 

In 1812, twenty-four of the residents of Eush signed a peti- 
tion to have a new township formed from it, eight miles square, 
adjoining the State line, to be called Bennington. January, 
1813, the first court of Susquehanna County was petitioned to 
divide Eush into three parts, viz., Choconut, Middletown, and 
Eush — the latter to be left eight miles east and west, by six 
miles north and south. The petition was granted "nisi," 
November, 1813, and "finally," January, 1814. 

The area of Eush was again reduced, in 1846, by the erec- 
tion of Jessup; and more recently by the addition to the latter 
township of about eighty rods on the Wyalusing, north to the 
line of Forest Lake. Thus the present north line of Eush 
extends but five and one-half miles ; the south line eight miles ; 
and the whole area about thirty-five square miles. It once 
included, in addition, two hundred and thirty-five square miles; 
but this, now absorbed by nine other townships, will require 
no further attention here. 

Eush, as well as Jessup, is traversed through the centre from 
east to west, by the Wyalusing — one of the few streams of the 
county retaining its sweet-sounding Indian name. But this is 
only in part retained. The Iroquois word as given by Zeis- 
berger, is Machwihilusing, meaning the "beautiful hunting 
grounds," a definition not unlike that given on a previous page 
— " Plenty of meat. 1,1 The Lenape or Delaware word — having 
only an additional I — Machwihillusing is said to mean "at the 
dwelling place of the hoary veteran." The former definition 
best agrees with what is known of the vicinity when first occu- 
pied by a civilized race. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 213 

Prior to 1759, there was an Indian village at the mouth of 
the Wyalusing (about fourteen miles southwest from Bush), 
which was called by Papoonhank, the chief, Machhachloosing, a 
name subsequently variously written Michalhusen, Munmuch- 
looscon, Mockocklooking, Quihaloosing, Wighalooscon, Wighalusui, 
and by the Moravian missionaries during the time of the mis- 
sion, Machiuihilusing, M'chwilusing, and Wialusing . 

In 1766, they laid out a town which was named Frienden- 
shuetten, or Huts of Peace. In 1767-68, they erected here a 
large church, with a cupola and a bell — the first bell that ever 
sounded in this section. 

In 1772, the mission was removed to Ohio. 

We learn from Col. Hubley's and Thomas Grant's journals 
of Sullivan's expedition into the country of the Six Nations, 
that in August of 1779, when a division of his army encamped 
at Wyalusing, there " was not the appearance of a house to be 
seen, the old Moravian town having been destroyed partly by 
the savages, and partly by the whites, in the present war." 
Hubley furthermore states, that the plantation here was for- 
merly called the " Old Man's Farm, 11 a name which would 
appear to corroborate Heckewelder's interpretation of Wyalu- 
sing. 

The north and middle branches of the Wyalusing join the 
main stream, or east branch, in Eush; Deer Lick Creek, and 
the outlet of Elk Lake, with some smaller streams, flow into it 
from the south. Bixby's Pond, on the line between Middle- 
town and Rush, is the only sheet of water larger than a mill- 
pond. 

Mineral Springs (see Mineral Resources), of some prospec- 
tive value, exist on the Deer Lick, but, singularly enough, salt 
is not one of their ingredients, though from the earliest times 
deer sought the locality, a salt spring being near. 

Except when the roads follow the streams, they are very 
hilly, but the traveler who gains the hilltops is amply repaid 
by the views he obtains. This is particularly true of the emi- 
nence just west of the Mineral Spring, from which one looks up 
the valley of Wyalusing to Cemetery Hill at Montrose ; but 
the stream itself is hidden by the overlapping hills that border 
its winding course. Devine Ridge, in the eastern part of the 
township, was so named from a family who first occupied it 
more than fifty years ago. 

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, some of 
the Wyoming settlers pushed northward on the Susquehanna 
and along its tributaries, Wyalusing being one of them; other 
settlers came from the New England States, via the Susque- 
hanna, to Great Bend, and over the hills ; while still others kept 



214 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

to the river in canoes, and so reached the Wyal using, and gath- 
ered along its shores. 

SETTLEMENT. 

As early as 1794, Isaac Brownson and family (eight in all) 
were at the forks or junction of the North Branch (the place 
long occupied by the late H. J. Champion). • 

Of his sons, Elisha, settled in Windham, Bradford County, 
and John one mile west of his father on the road coming in 
from the north, a few rods east of Sherwood's hotel. 

Daniel Eoss came in soon after I. Brownson, and located just 
below him. He was the first postmaster. 

In 1795, Dan Metcalf was on the farm next below, which 
has since been known as the old Hancock place. At this time 
(we are told by Mrs. Ichabod Terry, one of Mr. Metcalf's 
daughters), the settlers below her father's place were in the fol- 
lowing order: Thomas Tillotson (Andrew Canfleld with him), 

Salmon Bosworth, Preston, Benajah Bostwick, Ephraim 

Fairchild, Ezekiel Brown, Samuel and Aden Stevens, 

Kockwell, Elisha Keeler, John Bradshaw, Abraham Taylor, 
Jonas Ingham, and Job Camp. These, though below the pre- 
sent county line, were then considered neighbors of settlers 
above the forks. 

The graves of some of these early settlers may be seen in 
the cemetery, near the Stevensville church ; four miles below 
the Susquehanna County line. Benajah Bostwick died in 1864 
— he was born in 1776 ; Isaac Hancock in 1820, in his eightieth 
year ; his wife died two years later ; Deacon Aden Stevens in 
1858, aged 88; John Bradshaw in 1814; Daniel Eoss in 1837, 
aged 68. Mr. Metcalf removed, in 1798, to a location about 
one and a half miles above the forks, on the East Branch. 

Andrew Canfield moved from Litchfield County, Connecticut, 
about the 20th of January, 1797, with his wife and six chil- 
dren, and reached the forks, or rather a point a little below, on 
the 5th of February, 1797. There was then no road from Great 
Bend to the Wyalusing. They crossed the Delaware Eiver 
near Port Jervis, and struck the Susquehanna at Skinner's 
Eddy ; thence came up the river and creek to the place men- 
tioned above (outside of Susquehanna County), to the house of 
Thomas Tillison (or Tillotson), where they lived two years 
before moving to Middletown. They drove what was then 
called a spike team- — a yoke of cattle with a horse as leader — 
hitched to a wood-shod sled. His son, Amos, then 15 years 
old, now (1870) in his eighty-fifth year, says : — 

"We drove one cow, which we milked night and morning for the children ;" 
and adds, respecting the settlement: "A family of the name of Rossell, two 
brothers and a sister, lived three-fourths of a mile up the East Branch, on 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 215 

what has since been called the Captain Howell place ; and all were deaf 
and dumb. They afterwards removed to the ' Lake Country.' There was 
no clearing between them and Great Bend. This was just prior to the settle- 
ment of Lawsville. 

"The next summer after we came, Joab Picket, from Connecticut, cut a 
fallow on the place now owned by N. D. Snyder, which was not burned till 
the summer of 1799. [Mr. Miner mentions him and family at the latter 
date.] Trees were marked from the Porks to Great Bend, but the route was 
west of Montrose some three miles. 

"I recollect two brothers named Bennett, who came in the next winter 
after we did. They drove an ox-team, and crossed the Susquehanna at the 
Bend, and made their way to the Forks. The snow was nigh three feet deep. 
They drove their oxen until their team was tired out, when they left their 
load, and drove them as far as Picket's fallow ; where they left them to 
browse in the yoke, while they made their way to the Porks, with their feet 
badly frozen. The next day they got my father to go after the cattle and 
sled. He took me with him. We took a knapsack of corn for the oxen, and 
victuals for ourselves. The oxen had taken their track and gone back. We 
followed some three or four miles and found them feeding on top of a hill 
west of Montrose. We then drove on until we found the sled. As it was 
night, we fed the oxen some corn, and cut down a bass-wood tree, to which 
we chained them. AVe prepared for the night by building a fire and getting 
some hemlock boughs to make a bed of. It snowed all night. The next 
day we returned. 

" One of the oxen with which my father moved in died the next spring ; 
and he made a short yoke, in which he worked the remaining ox by the side 
of his horse. He drove them the same as he did the oxen, without reins. 
For two years it was the fancy team in that region. 

" There was plenty of game in the woods, aud trout in the creeks. We 
could kill a deer or catch a mess of fish any day. Bears, wolves, and pan- 
thers were often killed." 

Silas Beardsley, afterwards on the North Branch, was then 
at the Forks. 

A beautiful row of large maples now skirts the road on the 
flat where Joab Picket's first cabin stood, on the opposite side 
of the creek from Snyder's hotel, and where an old apple tree 
still stands. No name occurs more frequently in the early 
annals of the town than Captain Picket's. (He rose to the rank 
of major.) From his opposition to the claims of the Pennsyl- 
vania landholders, arose what is sometimes styled the "Picket 
war," in which it must be owned he was the aggressor. This 
was a second assault upon Captain Bartlet Hinds (who was the 
first to give up the validity of a Connecticut title), five years 
after the famous riot meutioned in the chapter on the Intrusion 
Law. An indiscreet use of fire-arms, in carrying out his oppo- 
sition to having the land surveyed under the Pennsylvania 
claim, brought him before the court. He was indicted April, 
1808, tried the following November, found guilty, and was 
sentenced to pay thirty dollars and the costs of prosecution. 
The decision in this case, and the opportune influence of Dr. 
Kose about this time, finally quieted the people, if it did not 
convince them. 



216 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Captain Picket held several town offices. He removed from 
the flat and resided, at the time of his death, in that part of 
Rush now included in Jessup. He and his wife died on the 
same morning, May, 1832, both aged sixty-one, and were buried 
in the same grave, in the cemetery near the Bolles school-house. 
He had seven sons: Samuel, born in Connecticut, 1791, now 
lives in Auburn, Susquehanna County; Shelden, who never 
resided here; Daniel, Charles Miner P., the first male child 
born in Rush ; Orrin, Anson, and Almon ; Polly, his only 
daughter, married Alanson Lung. 

Hon. Charles Miner styled Captain Picket "the famous painter 
killer." He had the first saw-mill on the Wyalusing in the 
town. 

In 1798, Colonel Ezekiel Hyde, the Yankee leader, was at 
the Forks, in "Rindaw;" the west line of "Usher" being in 
Rush, between Metcalf and Hyde. He was engaged in survey- 
ing, and selling lots under the Connecticut title. In what 
manner he became so much of a Pennsylvanian as to be ap- 
pointed postmaster at Wilkes-Barre, so early as 1804, does 
not appear. He died in 1805. 

Captain Jabez Hyde, a near relative of Colonel Hyde, was 
at the Forks, next east of Isaac Brownson, in 1799, with his 
family. 

Jabez Hyde, Jr., is said to have been there even two years 
earlier. 

The year 1799 witnessed a rapid increase in the number of 
settlers on the East Branch, or main stream of the Wyalusing. 

Nathan Tupper and William Lathrop came in together, from 
Unadilla, N. Y., locating at what is now Grangerville. They 
cut their road a part of the distance. Stephen Wilson's house 
was then the only one in Bridgewater. Deacon Lathrop's 
cabin had only a blanket for a door, and he was obliged to pile 
up wood against it at night to keep out the wolves. His loca- 
tion was at the mouth of Lake Creek. He lived here until his 
death, in 1865, in his ninetieth year. Of the ten children of 
Wm. Lathrop, only two, Nelson and Catharine (widow of Eben 
Picket, of Jessup), are living in Susquehanna County. 

Hiel Tupper, son of Nathan, settled on the Middle Branch, 
in Rush, two miles from any inhabitant, in one direction, and 
three miles in another. He married Phalla Downer, Feb. 5, 
1807, had eight children (the sons were Levi and Harvey), 
and lived on the same place till he died, Jan. 19, 1865. 

While preparing his log house in the woods, his home was 
two miles off; and he was accustomed, on Monday morning, to 
take a load of provisions, and stay until Saturday night, often 
not seeing a human being during the week. 

He was once hired to go to Great Bend for some cattle that 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTT. 217 

had strayed away. He found them at Snake Creek, where 
night overtook him ; and, as it was cold, he was obliged to pass 
the hours in running around a tree to keep warm. He did not 
see a person while gone from home. 

Harry and Loren Tupper, younger sons of Nathan, with his 
five daughters — Mrs. Spencer Lathrop, Mrs. ISTehemiah Lathrop, 
Mrs. Merritt Mott, Mrs. Willard Mott, and Mrs. Abel Chatfield 
— settled within the county. 

Enoch Reynolds, of Norwich, Connecticut, established a store 
at Eindaw (Hyde's place), as an experiment. Charles Miner 
says of him : — 

'•A few years after, I found him at Washington, one of the comptrollers 
of the treasury, with a salary of $1700 a year. He was a learned and ac- 
complished gentleman, and would relieve the tedium of a journey through an 
uninhabited tract of road, by a story from Shakspeare (Macbeth, or Lear 
with his heartless daughters), as perhaps no other settler could equal." 

Cyril (or Seril) Peck came to explore in 1799, and after- 
wards cleared the Williams farm, in the lower part of the town- 
ship, near Auburn, where he resided until his death, in 1811. 

At April sessions, 1799, the court at Wilkes-Barre was peti- 
tioned to order a road "from near the Forks of the Wyal using 
to intersect the road from Tunkhannock to Great Bend," etc., 
and viewers were appointed, who reported at August sessions, 
1801, thus:— 

"Beginning at the southeast corner of B. Hyde's store, thence running to 
Captain Picket's, thence to the creek by S. Maine's, thence to Mr. John Rey- 
nolds', thence to Ozem Cook's, thence to Captain Hinds', thence to Snake 
Creek, thence to the Barnum north and south road running through Kirby 
and Law's settlement, to a tree by D. Barnum's, thence on to intersect the 
road running from the Great Bend to Tunkhannock near the bank of Wyley's 
Creek, about one hundred and twenty chains south of Creat Bend." Report 
approved. 

This, with the minute details omitted, gives the route of a 
road, which has again and again been altered in certain places, 
along the Wyalusing. 

The same year, Bzekiel Hyde and others petitioned for a 
road afterwards obtained, from the Forks, nearly north to the 
State line; and others petitioned for one from the Forks to 
Tioga Point. 

In 1800, Walter Lathrop, from New London County, Conn, 
(father of the late Judge Benjamin Lathrop), settled on what is 
now known as the Levi Shove farm ; but he remained there 
only two or three years, when he removed to a farm in Bridge- 
water, nearly three miles south of Montrose, where he died in 
1818. 

"The farms on the Wyalusing below the present western line of Jessup, 
were occupied by the first settlers in the following order : Levi Leonard, 



218 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Elijah Adams, Nathan Tupper, Wm. Lathrop. Salmon Brown, John Jay^ 
Joab Picket, Dan Metcalf, Jabez Hyde, Isaac Brownson, and Daniel Eoss. 

" In 1801, when Isaac Hancock was appointed justice of the peace for 
Rush, he was located where Dan Metcalf began in 1795, on the farm adjoin- 
ing that of Daniel Ross. When Susquehanna County was erected, its west 
line was run between them, and the name of the part set off with Bradford 
County, was changed to Pike township. 

" Esq. Hancock was born near Westchester, Pa. Before the Revolution- 
ary war, he was at Wyalusing for a time, and returned there about 1785. ' 
He is mentioned on the records of Luzerne County as a ' taverner' for 
Springfield township, in 1788. At this time he was also one of the over- 
seers of the poor, for the district composed of the whole extent of Luzerne 
County, from the mouth of the Meshoppen, north to the State line. His 
sons were John and Jesse. Of his seven daughters, Mrs. Daniel Ross, Mrs. 
Jesse Ross, and Mrs. Benajah Frink were residents of this county. The 
last named was twin with Jesse H., and is the only one of the family now 
living. Mrs. Frink states, that Polly Canfield (of the Middletown family) 
taught school on a rock, somewhere on the farm of Daniel Ross, about 1798, 
and had six scholars. 

" Huldah Fairchild, daughter of Ephraim, also taught school early in this 
neighborhood. 

"Elders Sturdevant and Thomas Smiley were among the first preachers 
here. 

'• There was, in 1801, no settler on the east and west road between Elk 
Lake, in the present township of Dimock, and the mouth of its outlet, in 
Rush." 

April, 1801, on petition of Seril Peck and others, viewers 
were appointed to lay out a -road from Joab Picket's, south 
along the Deer Lick to Auburn. They accomplished their 
task August, 1802, and reported at January sessions, 1803. 
Jabez Hyde, Jr., was assessor in 1802, and Joab Picket and 
Stephen Wilson were supervisors; Aden Stevens was collector. 
The latter two resided at the east and west extremes of the town- 
ship, eighteen miles apart ; Stephen Wilson being one-half mile 
below Montrose, and Colonel Stevens at Stevensville, now 
Bradford County. The territory the collector canvassed is 
now embraced in eight or ten townships ; the county seat was 
seventy miles distant, " to which the scanty taxes — only $130 
— gathered by a thousand miles travel through trackless swamp 
and forests, were conveyed. Few, if any, remain whose names 
were then on the list." Colonel Aden Stevens died July 28, 
1858, aged eighty-eight. 

In 1804, elections were held at Jabez Hyde's. 

Colonel Thomas Parke was supervisor of Push in 1805. J. 
W. Eaynsford was at the same time one of the auditors. Soon 
after they were included in Bridgewater. 

Not long after the beginning of the century, changes oc- 
curred in the occupation and ownership of the farms on the 
Wyalusing. Most of the cabins of the first residents were 
nearer the creek, and across the road, from the houses of the 

1 From Rev. D. Craft's ' Wyalusing.' 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 219 

present. In several cases we have only the memory of survi- 
vors to indicate their sites — the old landmarks and relics of 
former occupancy being obliterated. 

In 1806, Col. Ephraim Knowlton came to the Leonard farm. 
He resided here until his death, in 1838. The Adams farm, 
now owned by Eobert Reynolds, was for years owned by John 
Hancock, and the house of the latter is still standing. Ebene- 
zer Picket, Sr., came from Vermont several years later than 
his son Joab, and settled where Nathan Tupper had made the 
first clearing. The place was afterwards occupied by Warren 
Lung; and Robert Reynolds has recently moved to it. Mr. 
Picket's wife died here in 1808. He died in 1826, aged 80 
years. Ebenezer Picket, Jr., resided with his father until his 
marriage (with Catharine, daughter of Deacon William Lath- 
rop), when he built near where the Baptist meeting-house at 
Grangerville, now stands; he afterwards lived on the State road, 
but for thirty or more years preceding his death, he occupied 
the David Doud farm, next below the Bolles school-house. He 
died in 1867, in his 81st year. 

In 1810, a road was surveyed from Jonathan West's (then in 
Bridgewater), to John Jay's, passing Nathan Tupper's place. 

In 1811, Jabez Hyde, Jr., was elected sheriff of Luzerne, 
under circumstances which showed the strong hold he had on 
the public confidence. In 1814, he was in the Legislature ; and 
two years later, on the election of Dr. Charles Fraser to the 
Senate, he was appointed by Gov. Snyder to take his place 
as prothonotary, register, recorder, and clerk of Susquehanna 
County. These offices he held until 1820. The next year he 
was again elected to the Legislature, and in 1823 was appointed 
one of the three commissioners for expending $50,000 in im- 
proving the navigation of the Susquehanna River. He was a 
delegate to the State Convention for altering the Constitution. 
After the revision, he was appointed by Gov. Porter to the 
Bench of Susquehanna County. Perseverance was strongly 
characteristic of Judge Hyde. Few men have in times of poli- 
tical excitement, held so many important trusts, and had so 
universally the esteem of their fellow citizens for strict high- 
minded integrity. He died at his residence, in Rush, Oct. 8th, 
1841, aged 66. 

Stephen Hyde resided with his father, and brother Jabez, Jr. 
He was accidentally and fatally shot while hunting, by Horace 
Dimock, in the summer of 1811 or '12. 

In 18 L2, Dennis Granger came from Vermont, and located 
near the cemetery, where he resided until his recent death. 

William Granger was killed, while assisting to raise the barn 
now standing near the main road, on the place long known as 
the Warren Lung farm. 



220 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In 1813 or '14, Levi Shove occupied John Jay's farm, on 
which Walter Lathrop made the first clearing. 

In 1818, Joab Picket's farm (now Snyder's) was occupied by 
William Eoss. 

That of Dan Metcalf was occupied by Ichabod Terry, who 
married Lucilla, daughter of Mr. Metcalf. Mr. Terry remained 
here until his death, in 1849, at the age of 66 years. It is but 
very recently that the large stone chimney of the old homestead 
disappeared. 

Salmon Brown's place (now Elder H. H. Gray's), was for 
many years occupied by Alanson Lung. 

Daniel Ross died on the place he cleared over seventy years 
ago. The homestead forms a part of the hotel of Win. H. Sher- 
wood. 

After the organization of Susquehanna County, and conse- 
quent division of Rush, one-fourth of the poor-tax was allowed, 
in 1813, to that portion remaining in Bradford County. The 
list of taxables for 1813, within the present bounds of Rush, in 
addition to the persons previously mentioned as residents, 
included several who appear to have remained but a few 
years : Hezekiah Low, Daniel Roots, and others. Jabez Sum- 
ner resided on the Deer Lick, and afterwards in Auburn. 
Fairchild Canfield was two miles up the North Branch. 

Robert H. Rose, Henry Drinker, and others were taxed for 
unseated lands. Their names occur on the town records, for 
the first time, in the transcripts of 1810 and 1812. 

The whole number, including residents of Choconut and 
Middletown — as they were before the organization of Jessup 
and Forest Lake — was about 180. The same year a bridge was 
ordered, near Joab Picket's, across the Wyalusing, to be built 
at the expense of the county. A road was surveyed from the 
North Branch to the Middle Branch of the Wyalusing. 

In 1816, Lloyd Goodsell (from Auburn ?■), Philander and 
Francis Pepper, from Connecticut ; Robert Estes, and others 
were here. 

John M. Brownson was then town clerk ; and in 1818, he 
was a merchant at the Forks. William Lathrop had a saw- 
mill at the junction of Lake Creek with the Wyalusing. 

Elections were held at Joab Picket's. 

In 1819, Larry Dunmore, George Devine, Jacob Eaton, Wil- 
liam Lathrop, Jr., and John Hancock, were among the new 
taxables. The last named was afterwards town clerk, overseer 
of the poor, and county commissioner. 

Russel Very was here in 1820; Isaac Deuel in 1823. 

In 1824, Rushville post-office was established; David Shove, 
postmaster. 

In 1825, there appears on the town records a list of " ear- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 221 

marks," by which the sheep and swine of the different owners 
in the town might be recognized. 

J. Demmon Pepper was on the Mineral Spring farm in 1826. 
His father was located not far from it. 

David Dewers was here in 1827. 

Tarbox, Burrows & Co. were merchants at Rushville in 
1829. The building occupied by them was consumed by fire 
on the 29th of October, 1871. 

In 1831, Samuel Shoemaker was taxed with a grist mill, near 
the confluence of the outlet of Elk Lake and Wyalusing Creek. 
Eichard S. Shoemaker, a brother, purchased and took posses- 
sion of this property in 1838. The present mills, grist and saw- 
mill, were built in 1858; and make use of both of the above- 
named creeks. S. Shoemaker had seven sons, of whom four 
reside in Susquehanna County. 

In 1835, Kush Centre post-office was established. Two years 
later, Bruce's Valley post-office took its place. It was located 
at the present residence of H. H. Gray. Alanson Lung and A. 
Picket were the postmasters here. This is discontinued, and 
Eush post-office, at Grangerville, takes its place. The East 
Eush post-office, of which J. F. Dunmore was the first post- 
master, was established prior to the last named. 

David Hillis, the first Irish settler, came in 1836 ; 

Carroll, in 1839 ; P. Eedding, in 1841 ; and James Logan, in 
1842. 

Mrs. Catharine Calwell, born in Ireland, died in Eush, 
August, 1872, aged 105 years. 

Within a few years, a Baptist church has been erected at 
Grangerville. At Eushville, the Presbyterian church was built 
in great part by Henry J. Champion and Chandler Bixby, both 
now dead. The Roman Catholic church is at Bixby's Pond. 
There are three M. E. churches in the township; at East Eush, 
Eush Center, and on Devine Eidge. The last named was built 
in 1867-8, principally through the liberality of George Devine 
and sons. Five of the latter live here on adjoining farms. 

Among the physicians who have practiced in Eush, the first 
on record is Dr. Eeuben Baker, who married a daughter of 
Isaac Hancock. He lived just below the latter, and conse- 
quently outside of the county; but was generally to be found, 
it is said, at the Deer Lick — his leisure being spent in hunting. 
He practiced extensively over the western halt' of the county, 
prior to the in-coming of Dr. Leet, of Friendsville. (See Phy- 
sicians.) 

Eush has but one store, kept by N. Granger, at Grangerville, 
who has been in the business there for about twenty-four years. 



222 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The poor-house of Rush, Auburn, Forest Lake, and Spring- 
ville, is located on the Larry Dunmore farm. 

The Wyalusing Railway, to extend from the mouth of the 
"Wyalusing to the forks, or junction, of the North Branch, is 
projected. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DIMOCK. 



DlMOCK was principally included in Springville from 1814 
to December, 1832, when it became the nineteenth township, 
taking from Bridgewater one mile across its southern border. 

The town was named in honor of Davis Dimock, then asso- 
ciate judge of the Susquehanna courts. 

Excepting a slight alteration of the line between Dimock and 
Jessup, its dimensions have remained as at first, six and a half 
miles east and west, by four and a half miles north and south. 

From the timber frequently found here it has been sometimes 
called " The Basswood township." 

With the exception of the outlet of Elk Lake and near tribu- 
taries, the township is wholly drained by the Meshoppen, or 
Mawshapi, in Indian language, signifying cord or reed stream. 
(So, Chapman, who generally quoted from Heckewelder; but 
another authority makes it glass beads, from a distribution of 
them among the Indians in this locality.) 

The area of Dimock, under the Connecticut surveys, was 
comprised of parts of Chebur. Bidwell, Dandolo, and Manor. 
The last named was only three and three-quarters miles in 
width, while most of the townships were six miles square. 

The first settlers of Dimock were Thomas and Henry Parke 
in 1796 ; Joseph Chapman and son Joseph in Chebur, tempo- 
rarily, in 1798 ; George Mowry, and sons Ezekiel and Charles, 
as early as 1799, in the western part of Manor; Martin Myers 
and Thomas Giles the same year ; Asa and Ezekiel Lathrop 
and Asahel Avery, 1800-1802* 

Thomas Parke, usually styled Colonel Parke, came with his 
younger brother Henry from Charleston, R. I., June, 1796, and 
commenced a clearing on the Meshoppen Creek, near the south- 
east corner of what is now Dimock township. They were the 
sons of Benjamin Parke, who was slain at the battle of Bunker 
Hill (being in command of a company) June, 1775, leaving a 
widow, four sons, and two daughters. Thomas and Henry were 
the younger sons, and, under the care of their grandfather, a 

\ 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 223 

Puritan clergyman, received a good education. Thomas was a 
fine mathematician, a good practical surveyor, and an occasional 
contributor to the newspapers of that day published at Wilkes- 
Barre by Charles Miner and others. He had filled several 
minor offices in his native State, invested his patrimony and 
means in the purchase of the Connecticut title to lands in Penn- 
sylvania, and came here the legal owner, as he supposed, of 
some 10,000 acres— nearly half of the township of Bidwell— 
lying on the waters of the Meshoppen, and covering parts of 
what is now Dimock and Springville. He fixed his residence 
on the farm (Parkevale) where he lived till his death in 1842. 
When he came to look up his lands he found only two settlers 
west of "Nine Partners," and they were near to what is now 
Brooklyn Center. West of that to theWyalusing Creek was a belt 
of twenty-five miles north and south, an unbroken forest. With 
the aid of his compass he explored and marked a path to the 
forks of the Wyalusing, the nearest place where any bread- 
stuffs could be obtained, from whence they were to be brought 
on his back until the next season, when a small green crop was 
raised. In the winter of 1797 he walked home to Charleston, 
R. I., and walked back the next spring. 

In 1800, he returned to Rhode Island, and was married to 
Eunice Champlin, of Newport; and in 1802, brought her with 
an infant son to a log-cabin in his wilderness home. Here, a 
true helpmeet to her husband, and a blessing to all who knew 
her, she raised a family of eight children. She died November 
10, 1858, in the ninetieth year of her age. 

In an obituary notice of Col. Parke, published in the ' Sus- 
quehanna Register,' in 1842, it is stated that he was employed 
as an agent by several persons who held bodies of land under 
the same title as his own, and spent most of the first years of 
his residence here, in surveying and dividing the country into 
townships and lots for selling to the settlers. Knowing that 
this territory was covered by the charter to Connecticut, and 
had always been claimed by the Connecticut company, he, in 
common with many of the soundest men in the Union, believed 
that the Connecticut claimants had the best title to the land. 
So believing, he firmly adhered to his rights, and defended the 
title both by argument and with his pen, until the legislative 
and judicial tribunals of the last resort had settled the question 
otherwise. He never believed the decree at Trenton just or 
right. 

During the pendency of this controversy, he evinced that 
scrupulous honesty, and unswerving integrity, which through 
life characterized all his acts, by refusing to give up the agency 
for the Connecticut claimants, and to accept an agency on the 
other side, together with a kase for all the lands he claimed; 



224 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

which would have made his title indisputable. He thought 
that in so doing he would show a distrust of the title under 
which he and others claimed lands; give his opponents an 
advantage over others for whom he acted, and thereby injure 
those who, relying upon his integrity, had entrusted their in- 
terests to his care, and who were not present to accept a sur- 
render of his agency, and act for themselves. By this decision 
he lost all the worldly estate he possessed, and was afterwards 
obliged to purchase upon credit, from his successful opponents, 
paying, by surveying, about six hundred acres, including the 
farm upon which he resided and died. 

He was for three years one of the commissioners of Luzerne 
County, and one of the three trustees appointed by the governor, 
in 1811, to run the lines, lay off, and organize Susquehanna 
County. 

Eisddest son, Hon. Benj. Parke, LL.D., after an absence of 
some thirty years, returned to the paternal home in 1860. This 
is near the site of the log-house to which he was brought in 
1802. 

"That dwelling stood in a beautiful valley, nearly surrounded by hills, be- 
side a brook of pure water which ran through, and gave name to the valley. 
Though of unhewn logs, it was of ample size and comfortable It appeared, 
however, as a home far different to those who then saw it for the first time, 
than it did to the one who had toiled six years to prepare it. Col. Parke 
brought with him his sister, a young and accomplished girl, besides his wife 
and infant son. They, as most of the women who emigrated early to Sus- 
quehanna County, had been reared in the bosom of New England families, 
and left the society of dear friends and relations. They had enjoyed, too, 
from childhood, a frequent intercourse with the city of Newport, the then 
emporium of New England fashion and style. What a change and contrast ! 
A small clearing in the midst of a dense forest ; few neighbors within five 
miles, and none nearer than a mile and a half of their dwelling. Their house, 
being of larger size than most others near, and upon the only traveled road 
leading eastward, in that section, was the general stopping-place of most of 
those coming from the Eastern States, to look for or settle upon farms in 
that part of the country. Here they were most cheerfully received, and en- 
tertained without charge, though beds and floors were frequently filled and 
covered with lodgers. 

" No one then thought of receiving pay from such transient guests. Their 
company and the news they brought from the outer world was more than 
an equivalent for their entertainment." 1 

Sarah C, daughter of Col. Thomas Parke, was born here De- 
cember 5, 1802 — the first birth in the township. 

One of our venerable townsmen who, when eighteen years 
old, was living at Col. Parke's, communicates the following in 
reference to Henry Parke: — 

1 Extracted from an address delivered at the Nineteenth Annual Fair of the 
Susquehanna Comity Agricultural Society, October 5, 1865, by Mr. Parke, then 
president of the society. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 225 

"An uncle of the Hon. Benj. Parke was occasionally a resident there for 
some days together. He was a very sociable, intelligent gentleman, and I 
was often entertained with his account of the first settlement of that region. 
Among other things, he told of backing provision from Black Walnut Bot- 
tom, on the river, following a line of marked trees ; and once, being belated, 
he failed to find the clearing, and camped by the side of a log till morning. 
Starting again, in a few moments he discovered the clearing, and was much 
vexed that he had lain out so near home." 

This incident proved a serious one to Mr. H. Parke; he be- 
came chilled that wintry night, and his constitution was perma- 
nently injured. He was an early school teacher, and for many 
years acted as constable, deputy sheriff, and tax collector for 
the northern part of Luzerne County, then extending to the 
north line of the State. He owned and, for several years, re- 
sided upon the farm (Woodbourne), now the residence of 
George Walker, Esq. He was never married. He died in the 
city of New York, in 1831. 

The venerable Charles Miner, of "Wyoming, wrote, not long 
before his death, respecting this region as it was in 1799 and 
1800:— 

" Thomas Parke and his brother Henry— active intelligent men — with a 
black boy, were alone in Bidwell. Charles Mowry was one of my fellow-stu- 
dents in Nature's beechwoods academy. After I became a printer, he wrote 
an article for my paper. I said to him, -Mr. Mowry, you are capable of 
better things than rolling logs. Come to my office, and in two years you will 
be fitted for a printer and editor.' Brother Asher at Doylestown needing 
help, he entered his office, proved a good writer, clear, nervous ; became pre- 
ceptor in the academy ; established a paper at Downington, Chester County, 
which he sustained with profit and reputation many years. He was invited 
by Governor Findlay's friends to remove to Harrisburg, and he afterwards 
became canal commissioner. As honest and clever a fellow as ever breathed, 
but as thorough a Democrat as I was Federalist." 

Eeference was made in the annals of Brooklyn to the tempo- 
rary residence, in 1798, of Captain Chapman and son, in Che- 
bur, to 400 acres of which they supposed they held a legal title; 
but this eventually shared the fate of Colonel Parke's. 

They named their place " Montcalm ;" cleared a few acres 
around the site of the house they erected in 1799, on the Ting- 
ley farm, about a mile below Dimock Corners. In the fall of 
the same year it was occupied by Martin Myers, while his own 
house was being built a short distance below, and while the 
family of Captain Chapman were in Dandolo, on the farm now 
occupied by C. M. Chapman, his great-grandson. Joseph Chap- 
man, Jr., remained there permanently, but his father and the 
younger members of the family came to " Montcalm" in the 
spring of 1800. 

" Isaac A. and Edward, sons of Captain Joseph Chapman, were boys who 

spent their days in the laborious occupation of felling and' clearing the forest, 

and assisting to provide for the wants of the family ; and their evenings by 

the light of a huge blazing fire, studying whatever books could be obtained 

15 



226 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

from the few ' settlers,' who lived within a circle of from ten to twenty miles 
around, and who were all neighbors warmly interested in each other's wel- 
fare and happiness. In this manner, aided by a very intelligent elder sister, 
and the occasional assistance of the more educated of the settlers, did these 
two brothers educate and improve themselves to such a degree, that to hu- 
man apprehension, only an early death prevented them from being the very 
first men in our State. They were both excellent mathematicians, practical 
surveyors, and draughtsmen. Poetry and landscape painting were occasion- 
ally resorted to as an amusement, and many of the singular events and rude 
scenes of that new and wild country were the subjects of their pen and peucil. 
Edward afterwards studied law, and commenced the practice at Sunbury, 
where he died deeply lamented by all who ever had the pleasure of his ac- 
quaintance." (From ' Harrisburg Keystone,' 1839. B. Parke, Esq. Editor.) 

In reference to the sister to whom they were so much in- 
debted, the Hon. Charles Miner said: — 

"Miss Lydia Chapman, a lady of high intelligence and great merit, became 
an inhabitant of Wilkes-Barre and an instructress of a school. Married with 
Dr. G. W. Trott ; their accomplished daughter intermarried with the Hon. 
G. W. Woodward." 

He added : — 

" Edward and Isaac Abel Chapman opened upon the world first-rate men. 
The fine poem 1 by Edward, commencing — 

' Columbia's shores are wild and wide, 
Columbia's hills are high, 
And rudely planted side by side, 
Her forests meet the eye' — 

justly challenges the critic's praise. 

" .Isaac became an editor; proved an excellent writer, but was too inde- 
pendent to be a party printer in ancient times. For many years he was engi- 
neer in the employ of the Mauch Chunk Company, whose confidence and favor 
attest his scientific accuracy and social merit." 

In 1826, Isaac A. Chapman invented the Syphon Canal-]ock. 
His death occurred December, 1827, at Manch Chunk. Two 
years later proposals were issued for the publication of his 
' History of Wyoming,' which eventually appeared. The pre- 
face, by himself, bears date July 11, 1818. He took the census 
of Susquehanna County in 1810. 

Martin Myers was a Hessian soldier in the British army 
during the Revolution. He came to Pennsylvania from one of 
the New England States, having left the service before the close 
of the war, and settled down as a peaceable citizen of the country 
against which he had been sent to fight. 

By the contract between the Government of Great Britain and 
the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, a sum of money was to be paid to 
the latter for all the Hessians not returned, and they were, at 
the end of the war, carefully sought for to be taken back. 

1 This is said to have been written during the war of 1812. Edward Chap- 
man taught school in Brooklyn in 1810, at which time Hon. B. Parke was one 
of his pupils. 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 227 

Myers, not wishing to return, sought concealment, and was' 
aided by a young woman with whom he had become acquainted. 
He was not found, and after the troops had left the country 
this woman became his wife. In the fall of 1799, he is said to 
have carried the following load upon his back from Black's 
mill, on the Wyalusing, up to the forks of the creek — a distance 
of ten miles — the flour of one bushel of wheat, one bushel of 
rye, fourteen shad, and a gun. At the Forks he added to his 
load, one gallon and a pint of whiskey, a large bake-kettle 
weighing twenty-five pounds, and a common-sized cross-cut 
saw, all of which he carried without assistance thirteen miles 
further to his own residence. These thirteen miles were en- 
tirely in the woods, and he was guided only by a line of marked 
trees. This Samson-like feat was performed by no " Samson 
in size," as we are told by his daughter, Mrs. Button, who also 
informs us that his grave is one-half mile east of Dimock Cor- 
ners. He has a son, Alvin, now living in Eush. Another son, 
Surzardis, formerly resided in Dimock. 

In 1799, Thomas Giles, from Conn., moved in between Col. 
Parke's place and Brooklyn. Soon after, his daughter Fanny, 
aged four years, while gathering chestnuts in the woods near 
the house, was lost. Many people joined in the search for her. 
" On the third day there were persons there who lived thirty 
miles away. No trace of her was ever found." 

Asa Lathrop came from Conn., in 1800, but did not bring in his 
family until 1801 ; when they located near the present farm of 
Denison Thomas. He removed, not long after, to the outlet of 
the lakes so long known by his name, where he built one of the 
first grist-mills, possibly the first in operation in all this section ; 
though Harris' mill on the Wyalusing was projected pre- 
viously. The mill is now owned by F. Fargo, a son of Alice, 
the 3'oungest daughter of Asa Lathrop. 

Asa L died in 1827, aged 72. His sons were James, 

Walter, and Asa. A story told by the eldest is repeated by one 
of his sons : — 

James Lathrop, hearing the squealing of pigs, one bright moonlight night 
(about 1810), rose, went out, and found a bear had scaled the log fence — five 
feet high — with a porker weighing 200 lbs. ; and had walked off hugging it, 
and was then in the act of getting over another fence, when, seeing Mr. L. 
coming and brandishing a bush-hook, he dropped the porker and took to the 
woods on all fours. 

The sons of James were Israel B., Wm. F., Austin B., and 
Charles J. 

Ezekiel Lathrop's family are said to have been here before 
that of Asa, or in 1800. This is according to the statement of 
one of his sons, Nehemiah, who was eleven years old when 
his father came, and is now — Sept. 1870 — eighty-two; while 



228 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

another son feels confident that it could not have been earlier 
than 1802. All outside testimony seems to favor the earlier 
date. (This instance of discrepancy may serve to show how 
extremely difficult it has been for the compiler, in many other 
cases, to reconcile two or more conflicting statements, each 
apparently reliable.) 

The earliest religious services of the vicinity were held at 
the house of Ezekiel L , very near the present line of Au- 
burn, southwest of the Lakes. His son Dyer occupies a part of 
the old farm. 

The sons of Ezekiel were : Spencer, Dyer, Nehemiah, Eze- 
kiel, and John. 

1801. Asahel Avery, wife, and six children came from New 
London Co., Conn., to the farm since known as that of Win. D. 
Cope, but then mapped under the Connecticut title as the south- 
east corner of Manor. They entered their log-house when it 
was but two-thirds roofed. There was a flooring through the 
centre only, of split bass-wood logs; the horse and calf were 
on one side of this, and the fireplace — no jambs — was against 
the wall on the other side. 

Bears were in the neighborhood of "Pine Hill" (the ridge 
on which C. Hollister lives), and one of the children, now a 
respected justice of the peace at Montrose, was once so effectu- 
ally frightened by them as never to forget it. 

Mr. A ■ was a carpenter, and his services were in requisi- 
tion in remote portions of the county, then Luzerne. His cabin, 
on the sight of the present "tenant house," was about to be 
given up for a frame house across the road, the timber of which 
he had prepared, when he sold the place with his improvements, 
in 1808 or 9, to John Williams, and moved to Great Bend, 
where he died Feb. 1813. His widow removed to Montrose 
with her son Charles and died here. 

John Williams sold, in a few years, to John W. Robinson, 
who purchased what was known as the Wallace estate — 8000 
acres — and all the contracts previously made. Mr. Avery had 
purchased under the Connecticut title. 

On petition of Stephen Wilson and others in 1801, for a road 
to run past Thomas and Henry Parke's, the court appointed 
viewers, and the road was ultimately opened down to the Chap- 
man farm (Montcalm), and thence to Col. Parke's, where it 
intersected a road leading eastward to " Nine Partners." 

At an early day, Nehemiah Maine made a clearing where 
I. P. Baker now lives. 

Ralph Loomis, from Ct., was east of the corners. 

The following item was furnished by Mr. Jesse Bagley, July, 
1871 :— 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHA-SHSrA COUNTY. 229 

"Tn 1806 I worked for Col. Parke when the first militia training was held 
there; Thomas Parke, Captain, Myron Kasson, Lieut., Joseph Chapman, 
Ensign, and myself Sergeant or Corporal. Abiathar Tuttle is the only man 
now living who trained with me. Capt. (afterwards Col.) Parke proposed, 
that to every one who would the next time appear in uniform — blue coat and 
white pantaloons — he would give a dinner. About twenty so appeared and 
were treated to an excellent dinner." 

In 1808, George W. Lane came from Windham Co., Vt., to 
the farm afterwards occupied many years by Philander Ste- 
phens. He removed to a place a little southwest of that, in 
Dimock. 

Samuel Davis and family came from the same place the same 
year, and located not far from Pine Hill. 

About 1810 or 1811, Henry Parke taught a winter school at 
his house ; and the families of Avery, West, and Fuller were 
represented in that school. The last named resided just below 
Capt. Bard, in Bridgewater, and his brother in-law, Elias West, 
was where Friend Hollister now lives ; the line between Bridge- 
water and Dimock running through the farm. 

Joshua Smith, from Groton, Conn., reached Dimock (then 
Bridgewater) in 1812; the fourteenth day of his journey, and 
located on the east and west road leading past Lathrop's Lakes, 
where his son Urbane, the youngest of eleven children, now 
lives. A few years later, Silas, another son, when about ten 
years old, was followed by a pack of wolves just west of this 
place, and barely reached his father's yard in safety. 

Mr. Smith died December 30, 1840, aged 76 ; his widow, 
Sabra, died April 3, 1842, aged 70. Both were highly esteemed 
members of the Baptist church. 

Erastus and William Rathbun (the latter a clothier) were 
near the southern shore of the lakes prior to 1813, but re- 
mained only a few years. 

Oliver Scott took up the place afterwards occupied by Samuel 
A. Brown (J. P. in 1821), between Woodbourne and the Cor- 
ners, where a clump of pines is still to be seen, though the 
house they shaded was burned to the ground years ago. 

Wm. Harkins, an early settler on the Hopbottom, came to 
Dimock a few years later, and died here in 1825. 

Amos and Allen Lawrence, from the same neighborhood, 
settled a mile or two east of the Corners. 

About 1813, John Bolles and family removed from Wilkes- 
Barre to the Chapman farm (Montcalm), and remained there 
for several years. He then settled on the farm adjoining Di- 
mock Corners, afterwards owned by Lewis Brush, Esq. He 
died in Bridgewater, at the residence of his son-in-law, ex- 
sheriff Thomas Johnson, at the age of 90. 

Avery Bolles, his son, began on " Pine Hill," put up a small 



230 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

frame house, which he removed about forty-five years ago to 
his present farm, and Elhanan Smith took the place he left. 

In 1814, Israel Hewitt began a clearing east of Dimock Cor- 
ners. His farm is now owned by F. Newton and Wm. Bun- 
nell. 

Frazier Eaton began where Benjamin Blakeslee afterwards 
lived and died. 

Jacob Perkins made an improvement on the place now 
owned by Samuel Sherer. He first occupied a log house of 
Elias West's, then Edward Fuller's place, until his own house 
was built. From this he moved to the present Baxter place, 
on the Wilkes-Barre turnpike, where he died. 

In 1814, Henry Parke and others petitioned for a road "from 
near Joshua Smith's to pass by or near to Phineas Arms', and 
come into the post-road near the house lately occupied by E. 
Fuller." Stephen Wilson, Isaac Post, Zebulon Deans, Jacob 
Koberts, Samuel Kellum, and John Bard were appointed 
viewers, August, 1814; their report was accepted, and in April, 
1815, a certificate was issued to Z. Deans to open the road. 
The following month another certificate authorized the opening 
of a road from Joshua Smith's to a point near the house of 
Salmon Thomas, in Springville. The viewers were, Isaac A. 
Chapman, Ezra Tuttle, Frazier Eaton, and Joshua Smith. 

About the same time, or a little previous, a road " from the 
tenth mile-tree past Thomas Parke's clearing" is mentioned — 
James Spencer, Ezra Tuttle, Salmon Tuttle, Zophar and Aaron 
Blakeslee, viewers. The road was finally ordered. 

In 1814, George Young settled on the farm previously 
located by Denison Gere, and now owned by his son, John 
Young, ex-sheriff. He died in 1831, aged seventy-two. David 
Young, Sem, a brother of George, came in 1815, buying out 
Joseph and James Camp (of whom, as of Mr. Gere, nothing 
further is known). Mr. Young died before 1831, aged seventy- 
five. His farm of four hundred acres is divided, the home- 
stead-lot being occupied by his grandson, Chas. M., son of 
John Newton Young. David Young, Jr., died within a few 
years. 

In 1815, Samuel Kellum, formerly on the old Eldridge farm in 
Bridgewater, bought the Chapman farm, including three of the 
four corners where the State road crosses the Wilkes-Barre 
turnpike. Four years later he advertised the same for sale, 
stating that there were then four hundred and fifty thrifty 
apple trees on the place. The farm appears to have been pur- 
chased by Englishmen. 

In 1816, Elisha Gates and his son-in law, John Lewis, from 
Groton, Conn., settled on the farm immediately north of Col. 
Parke's. Mr. Gates was known as the best arithmetician in 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 231 

his neighborhood. He was frequently called upon to solve 
many knotty and puzzling mathematical questions, not only 
by his neighbors, but by persons from other counties. He had 
four daughters, and two sons, John and George. In our late 
civil war, John had three, and George six sons (all he had), in 
the Union army. 

About 1817, Simon Stevens, from Braintrim, located on 
the place formerly owned by Erastus and William Rathbun. 
He had fourteen children ; three sons and three daughters still 
reside in the vicinity. 

Mr. Stevens had filled the offices of commissioner and of 
register and recorder; and was well known and respected in the 
county. He was a prominent anti-Mason. He died in Dimock, 
May, 1841, aged about sixty-five. 

In 1818, a new post-office was established, called Springville 
Four Corners, though the office itself was kept nearly a mile 
from the Corners, on the next hill north, by John W. Robin- 
son, who afterwards sold to Wra. D. Cope. The house was the 
one for which Asahel Avery had made preparation; it was 
burned in 1830, when Mr. Cope lost with it the most of his 
furniture. 

" Woodbourne" post-office was a continuance of this, Enoch 
Walker, postmaster, until 1830, when it was removed to the 
Corners, receiving the old name, and Perrin Ross was appointed 
postmaster. 

About 1819, a number of emigrants, mostly from England, 
settled at what is now Dimock Corners, which they called New 
Birmingham. Among them was Thomas Bedford, said to have 
been wealthy, and to have furnished his reputed brother-in-law, 
Thomas Emerson, the funds to erect the hotel now standing on 
the corner. A Mr. Hicks opened a store, and a Frenchman by 
the name of Major, a cabinet-maker and local preacher, also 
erected a house, and carried on business. After a few years, 
most of them sold out and left. Mr. Ross, mentioned above, 
purchased the northeast corner, afterwards owned by Dr. 
Denison. 

Alexander Smith, born near Edinburgh, Scotland, left that 
country March, 1818, and landed in Philadelphia in May fol- 
lowing. He came to Susquehanna County September, 1819, 
with James Young, Sr., and James Service. The last-named 
settled near Lathrop's Lakes. 

Mr. Smith contracted with J. W. Robinson for eighty acres, 
a mile east of the Corners. He lived there for some time, then 
went to Forest Lake, came back to "the Cope place," afterwards 
was in Bridgewater, and is now spending the evening of his 
days near his son, Wm. W. Smith, of Montrose. This son and 
his sister, Christiana, were "the first twins of Dimock." 



232 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In bis first purchase, Mr. Smith was more fortunate than 
some of his neighbors who were able to pay for their lands; 
as those who had paid Robinson were afterwards obliged, with 
one exception, to pay Wallace or his widow, since the tract, 
extending nearly to Montrose, was mortgaged to him, and Robin- 
son failed to raise the mortgage. This was due, doubtless, to 
the long time he allowed the settlers to make their payments. 
In the mean time, as he could give no valid deed, there was dis- 
trust among the settlers, some of whom were threatened with 
ejectment by Robinson ; but, " one morning," it is said, " he found 
a pail of tar and feathers, and a bag of powder and shot sus- 
pended from his door-latch, giving too strong a hint to be dis- 
regarded, and within twenty-four hours, he left the township." 

Charles Miner says of Mr. Robinson, " we were early and 
through life, attached friends. He had been on the Wyalusing 
with Col. Hyde, as surveyor, in 1798. He removed to Wilkes- 
Barre, where he entered into mercantile business, and married 
a daughter of the revolutionary veteran, Col. Zeb. Butler. His 
daughter intermarried with the Hon. H. B. Wright." 

Samuel Robinson, father of John W., came from Connecti- 
cut quite early, and settled in Auburn, on the farm next west 
of Ezekiel Lathrop. 

Adam Waldie, printer and publisher, came from Hyde, on 
the Tweed, Scotland, in 1820. His two sisters, contributors to 
the ' Messenger,' which he afterwards published in Montrose, 
lived in his family, one mile northwest of Dimock Corners, on 
the farm now occupied by John Murray. He moved from 
there to Forest Lake. 

In the fall of 1821, Joseph Baker, of Chester Co., father of 
Judge Baker, visited Susquehanna County, and in a letter to 
Charles Miner, then an editor in the southern part of the State, 
he wrote : "We visited John W. Robinson's and Dr. Rose's 
lands, more than any other, and I think there are twelve or 
fourteen miles square in Susquehanna Co., of as handsome and 
good land as I ever saw in the State." He bought between two 
and three hundred acres of improved land, adjoining the "Four 
Corners," six miles from Montrose ; and moved to the place in 
the spring of 1822. 

The same season, Enoch Walker and son George came from 
Choconut to the farm now known as Woodbourne. Early in 
the century, Charles Miner 1 employed men to clear five acres 
here; and on this clearing, Henry Parke built a house, in 
which he and his sister resided. It now forms a part of the 

1 He must himself have superintended operations here, as, from a tree of his 
own planting, a basket of fruit, fi:ty years later, was presented to him by E. 
Walker. C. Avery, K,<q., remembers that his father, Asahel Avery, cleared 
" up to the Miner fence," in 1806. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 233 

hospitable home of George and Sarah M. Walker. There are 
one or two small lakes in the vicinity. 

Lewis Walker, the great-grandfather of Enoch, emigrated in 
1700, from Yorkshire, England, to Chester Co., Pa., and here 
the latter was born, as were also his father and grandfather. 
His parents were Joseph and Sarah Walker, members of the 
Society of Friends. Enoch came from Chester Co., with his 
children, in April, 1820, to the farm, late the residence of Caleb 
Carmalt, Lakeside, Choconut; where he remained two years, 
before removing to Woodbourne. One who spent many 
months, at different times, under his roof, says: — 

"His earliest training was under the judicious care of an excellent Chris- 
tian mother, whose precepts and example were the abiding rule of his life, 
and enabled him to endure with great fortitude, many and varjous trials. 
"When young, he appeared as a minister among Friends ; and in 1796, spent 
some time as a missionary to the Oneida Indians, under the auspices of the 
Yearly Meeting of Friends ; and traveled much in the service of the Gospel, 
and on business, until the close of a long and active life. 

" He was ever a pattern of true hospitality, in word and deed ; careful in 
training his children in strict morality and religion, and ever kind and con- 
siderate for the happiness of all under his care and influence. He was active 
in promoting the settlement of the county with worthy and industrious per- 
sons, and always evinced a liberal and forbearing spirit towards every sect and 
denomination, in the fullest sense of a true ' Universal Christian Benevolence.' 

"He was returning, 11th mo. 8th, 18o3, in his 83d year, from one of his 
accustomed visits of love aud duty, to relatives and friends in and near 
Philadelphia, and had reached the house of Noah Rogers, Waymart, Wayne 
Co., in expectation of being at Woodbourne the following day. He spent a 
cheerful evening, and retired to rest — aud to sleep the sleep that knows no 
waking here." He was buried at Friendsville. 'The memory of the just is 
blessed !' 

' Rest from thine earnest labors, 

Rest from thy loved employ, 
And with His seal and signet, 

Enter thy Master's joy ! 
Through Heaven's uncounted ages, 

With love and transport see, 
Thy angel-cause advancing 

Afar, o'er land and sea.' " 

In a short description of Susquehanna Co., given by Enoch 
Walker in the ' Eegister,' published at Montrose, July, 1833, 
the following large landholders are mentioned : Heirs of Henry 
Drinker, Dr. K. H. Eose, Caleb Carmalt, S. Milligan, K. Vaux, 
J. Lee, J. B. Wallace, T. W. Morris, and others, of Philadel- 
phia; S. Meredith, and Brownes, of New York. Their 

lands were then in the care of Judge Wm. Thompson, and 
Putman Catlin, Great Bend ; Wm. Jessup, James C. Biddle, 
Joshua W. Eaynsford, Montrose ; Wm. Ward, New Milford ; 
Wm. D. Cope and Geo. Walker, Woodbourne. 

Dr. Eose then had 7000 sheep in the county. Montrose had 
about 500 inhabitants. The houses were about seventy, includ- 
ing two printing-offices, four taverns, and seven stores. 



234 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Thomas P. Cope, father of.Wm. D., late of Woodbourne, be- 
came a landholder in Susquehanna County at an early period 
of its settlement, purchasing from Henry Drinker (grandfather 
of the late H. Drinker, of Montrose), 25,000 acres located in 
Dimock, Springville, Rush, Auburn, and Je$sup townships. 

He aided in the construction of the Bridgewater and Wilkes- 
Barre Turnpike, and was a liberal contributor to the First-day 
(Sunday) schools of the county. 

George Walker, upon coming to Woodbourne, opened a small 
stock of merchandise in the room now his library; and for 
several years this was the only accommodation of the kind for 
the people of this vicinity. The post-office then was in the same 
room. He began his business as surveyor in 1824. 

The first merchant at the Corners was Mr. Hicks (previously 
mentioned), and the next, Richard Stone, 1830-36. His place 
was purchased by L. H. Woodruff, to whose enterprise the town- 
ship is indebted for the erection of an academy several years 
later. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1838, for Spring- 
ville and Dimock. 

After the erection of Dimock township, the post-office, which 
had been known as "Springville Four Corners," was changed 
to "Dimock Four Corners," and in January, 1834, John Baker 
was appointed postmaster in place of Perrin Ross. 

Philander Stephens, an early settler of Bridgewater, was 
identified with the interests of Dimock in his later years, being 
located on the farm which George W. Lane began to clear in 
1808. He was a commissioner and sheriff of the county, and 
was subsequently chosen representative for Susquehanna and 
Luzerne Counties in the State Legislature several successive 
years, where he acquired the reputation of an active and influ- 
ential member, and was finally twice elected a representative in 
Congress from this district. His death occurred in July, 1842, 
in the fifty-fourth year of his age. A. P. Stephens, lately our 
State representative, is one of his sons. 

In 1835, Samuel Barkley was justice of the peace for Dimock. 
In 1836, the 'Register' mentions Julius Beach, as "an enter- 
prising farmer who has done much for the introduction of the 
mulberry into the county. He presented to the cabinet of the 
Montrose Lyceum, a skein of beautiful silk (white); the first 
silk manufactured in the county." 

(The morus multicaulis fever was at its height in the countj'- 
three years later.) 

From a newspaper of the period we take the following : — 

" Mr. Avery Bolles, of Dimock, in the fall of 1835, procured a kernel of a 
superior kind of seed wheat, sowed it separately, and in August, 1836, gath- 
ered the product and laid it aside. A few days ago he shelled it, counted the 
kernels, and found them to number 1198." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 235 

The same year (1835), "William Smith, an Englishman, who 
lived a little north of Dimock Corners, died, aged seventy-six, 
and was buried in a grove of trees near the turnpike, which 
have been sacredly preserved to the stranger's memory. It is 
on the Oliver Scott place which is now owned by L. H. Wood- 
ruff. 

In 1840, Dimock sustained the school law. 

In 1842, the Elk Lake post-office was established seven miles 
southwest of Montrose ; C. J. Lathrop, postmaster ; since which 
time the two lakes have been more commonly mentioned as 
one — Elk Lake. The 'township has several lakes, not half the 
size of the former, (which covers about 150 acres,) but they 
add much to the attractiveness of their respective localities. 
Elk Lake itself has never been sold from the Drinker estate. 
Young's Pond supplies water for the steam, grist, and saw-mills 
of Silvanus Tyler. 

The mills at Parkevale were built by Hon. B. Parke, at a cost 
of nearly $30,000. They have all the latest improvements, and 
it is said they are not surpassed by any flouring mills in this part 
of the country. The water-power is unfailing. The pond near 
is supplied with black bass, to the introduction of which into 
the county, Mr. Parke is giving attention. In the early times 
there was a beaver-meadow and a deer-lick on the Meshoppen, 
in the vicinity of the mills. 

Dimock Corners is now a village of about eighty inhabitants. 
It has a Baptist church, two academies, two dry goods stores, a 
millinery shop, wagon and blacksmith shops, shoemakers' 
shops, etc. 

The Presbyterian church now building (1871), is on land 
donated by L. H. Woodruff, Esq. The society was organized 
about fifteen years ago ; that of the Baptists, twenty-five years 
earlier. 

The township has furnished thirteen physicians ; about half 
the number located in the county. 

HON. DAVID WILMOT. 

David Wilraot, of •' Proviso" fame, was bom in Bethany, Wayne County, 
Pennsylvania, and was about eighteen years old when his father, Randall 
Wilmot, moved into Dimock from Wayne County, about 1832, and located 
on the top of the hill west of the Corners. The place has since been known 
as Benjamin McKeeby's, and is now occupied by the widow of John Sawyer. 
Here Mr. R. Wilmot kept a store for a time, but afterwards removed to the 
shore of Elk Lake, where H. Spafford now resides, and eventually left the 
county. 

Young Wilmot evinced a love for reading which craved greater facilities 
for indulgence than his own limited store of books or that of his neighbors 
could gratify. Fortunately the library at Woodbourne was open to him, with 
its many volumes ; among others those written by the peace-loving, slavery- 
hating, followers of William Penn. Years afterwards, he referred to the 



236 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

privilege enjoyed here, as one that influenced his own principles in regard to 
" human rights," and that indirectly, at least, eventuated in the " Wilmot 
Proviso." 

He spent only his vacations in Dimock, having engaged in the study oflaw 
at Wilkes-Barre. He afterwards settled in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Once, 
while enjoying a vacation sail on Elk Lake, with another youth, he was by 
some carelessness, ' dumped' into the lake, and was barely rescued from 
drowning. 

The ' Bradford Reporter' gave an extended sketch of Mr. Wilmot soon 
after his decease, from which the following is taken : — 

" In 1844, Mr. Wilmot received the unanimous nomination of the De- 
mocracy of the Twelfth Congressional District, composed of the counties of 
Bradford, Tioga, and Susquehanna, and thereafter known as the " Wilmot 
district." He was chosen by a large majority, and took his seat at the open- 
ing of the twenty-ninth Congress, in December, 1845. The annexation of 
Texas, which Mr. Wilmot, in unison with the Democratic party of the North, 
had supported, was consummated in 1845, and was speedily followed by war 
with Mexico. The ' Wilmot Proviso' provided, that in any territory acquired 
from Mexico, ' neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in 
any part of the territory, except for crime, etc' 

" The slavery question did not enter prominently into the canvass in this 
Congressional district, in 1846, at the time of Mr. Wilmot's second election. 
He received, as usual, the unanimous nomination of his party. 

" Having received the nomination at the hands of the Democratic party of 
the district, in 1850, the pro-slavery branch of the organization set about 
defeating his return to Congress. Mr. Wilmot at once offered to give way 
for any person who would represent the principle for which he was contend- 
ing. Hon. Galusha A. Grow was named by Mr. Wilmot as an acceptable 
person ; and he was accepted and elected. 

" Under the provisions of the amendment to the Constitution making the 
judiciary of the State elective, Mr. Wilmot was chosen President Judge of 
the Judicial district composed of the counties of Bradford, Sullivan, and 
Susquehanna, in 1851. He presided until 1857, when he resigned and became 
the candidate of the Republican party for Governor, and was beaten by Wil- 
liam F. Packer, through the treachery of the Conservative and Know-nothing 
leaders. He was restored to his place upon the bench by appointment — 
Judge Bullock having occupied the position — and was again chosen to fill the 

place at the next election, 

********* 

"The selection of General Cameron as Secretary of War, by President 
Lincoln, created a vacancy in the United States Senate, to fill which, Mr. 
Wilmot was elected and took his seat in that body March 18, 1861. He 
served two years in the Senate, on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Claims 
and Pensions, and was succeeded in 1863 by Mr. Buckalew. 

" At the conclusion of his senatorial term he was appointed by President 
Lincoln a Judge of the Court of Claims, which office he held up to the time 
of his death." 

He died at Towanda, March 16, 1868, aged fifty-four. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 237 



CHAPTER XVII. 

LENOX. 

On petition of Peter Rynearson and others, at the first term 
of court in Susquehanna County, January, 1813, a view was 
ordered of that portion of Nicholson separated from Luzerne 
by the county line, with the intention of erecting it into a town- 
ship to be called Hillsborough. At April sessions, the same 
year, Isaac Rynearson and H. Tiffany, Jr., presented the fol- 
lowing : — 

"We do report that we have layed off that part of Nicholson belonging to 
Susquehanna County, and a part of Harford township as follows : Beginning 
where the county line crosses Martin's Creek, it being the southeast corner 
of that part of Bridgewater belonging to Susquehanna County, then running 
east on the county line seven miles to the township of Clifford, thence north 
five miles and three-quarters, thence west six miles and one-quarter to Mar- 
tin's Creek, thence down said creek to place of beginning." 

The court decreed this a township under the name of Lenox. 
Slight changes have since been made, one of which gives to the 
present town of Lathrop the territory on which the Delaware, 
Lackawanna, and Western Railroad is located, except in the 
extreme northwest corner ; and others have taken from Har- 
ford small portions, making the north line of Lenox more irreg- 
ular than that of any other township. 

Lenox is drained by the Tunkhannock Creek, the main 
stream of which passes entirely through the township, entering 
it in the northeast corner from Gibson after having also passed 
entirely through the latter. The East Branch comes in from 
Clifford at Lenoxville, near the southeast corner. It runs a 
little south of- west, and empties into the Tunkhannock at Glen- 
wood. Millard's Brook and Upper and Lower Bell Brooks, 
with Van Winkle's Branch, are the principal tributaries to the 
main stream, and those of the East Branch are both numerous 
and considerable, making Lenox one of the best watered town- 
ships in the county. They run among hills beautifully wooded, 
but not reaching the height of some in Gibson and townships 
adjoining on the east. 

Ponds are numerous but small. The largest is Loomis Lake. 

The earliest road was a path up the Tunkhannock, which, 
taking a straight line, crossed the stream time and again. It 
was not until January, 1814, that a road was finally granted 
which, from a point in the north line of Lenox, followed the 



238 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Tunkhannock on the west to the south line, and was continued 
by Luzerne to the Susquehanna. 

In 1821, the Milford and Owego turnpike, passing diagonally 
across the northeastern portion of Lenox, was completed, and 
the Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike commenced. The 
route of the latter lay through Lenox from north to south, in 
the eastern part. 



In 1797, there were at least four settlers in Lenox. Isaac 
Rynearson was located on the Tunkhannock, where the turn- 
pikes just mentioned afterwards crossed each other, and where 
he resided until his death, in 1840, at the age of 82. Solomon 
Millard was on Millard's Brook, at its junction with the Tunk- 
hannock ; Isaac Doud was on the East Branch, now Lenox- 
ville; Jesse Collar, and perhaps two or three of those who set- 
tled about 1790 on the Hopbottom (now Brooklyn Township), 
were within the present limits of Lenox. 

Mark Hartley, Sr., who had been induced by John Nichol- 
son to join the Hopbottom settlement, May, 1792, removed in 
1797 to the farm now occupied by his son, William Hartley, 
Esq., the latter being then five years of age, and Mark Hartley, 
Jr., but two years younger. The latter died October 12, 1869. 
The township of Nicholson at that time covered one-quarter of 
the area afterwards allotted to Susquehanna County, besides 
twenty square miles (1 X 20) below. In 1798, its office-holders 
resided in widely-separated sections of it, including a Thatcher 
and Tiffany (from present town of Harford); Potter (from Gib- 
son); Sweet (Herrick); Bartlett and Stevens (now Wyoming 
County), and Solomon Millard. A year or two later, in addi- 
tion to some of these, Abel Kent, Asahel Gregory, and Walter 
Lyon (from what is now Herrick). 

In 1798, immense numbers of pigeons encamped along the 
hills of the Tunkhannock in this section. The circumstance 
was so remarkable it was remembered and mentioned by Mr. 
John Doud, sixty years after, at the Pioneer Festival at Mont- 
rose, in 1858, though he was but a boy when it occurred. 

In 1799, a road was ordered from Robert Corbett's (now 
Phinney's, New Milford) to Solomon Millard's, Nicholson. 

In 1800, Thomas Tiffany and John Marcy were justices of 
the peace for the township, and in 1801 Ebenezer Stevens was 
added. He and J. Marcy lived below the line of Susquehanna 
County as afterwards run. 

In the latter year, the number assessed was 132; Asahel 
Gregory, assessor; John Tyler, assistant. 

People then carried their grain to Wilkes-Barre in canoes, 
and made most of their purchases there. " On their way they 
were accustomed to blow a horn when nearing each habitation, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 239 

that persons desiring groceries, etc., might come to the bank 
and deliver their orders, which would be attended to, and pur- 
chases made by the obliging neighbor and voyager, who an- 
nounced his return from Wilkes-Barre with the purchases by 
another blast of his horn. In returning, the canoe was pro- 
pelled almost the entire length of the Tunkhannock Creek by 
pushing." 

Corn was chiefly pounded in mortars, some of which were 
hollowed stumps; others were found in rocks, and supposed to 
have been excavated by the Indians. Pestles of their manu- 
facture, as also arrow-heads and hatchets, were found in the 
vicinity of Glenwood. 

The elections for the district of which this section was then 
a part were held at a point on the Susquehanna River five 
miles below Tunkhannock, where Isaac Osterhout (father of 
our late State Senator), kept a hotel or store. 

One pound of maple sugar, then worth twelve cents, could 
be exchanged at Tunkhannock for four shad, so abundant were 
they then in the river, though never found at T. now. Per- 
sons often suffered from hunger, and children were sometimes 
seen crying for food. The principal articles of diet were corn 
mush, and bread made of corn meal, milk, butter, and potatoes ; 
fried doughnuts as a Christmas luxury; pork rarely obtain- 
able, but venison, bear-meat, and wild turkeys in their season 
abundant, as also many varieties of fishes; speckled trout in 
all the streams, and some of them very large. In spring, there 
was little to eat except porridge made of maple-sap and corn 
meal, and sometimes Johnny-cake, though the latter, sweetened 
and shortened, was a dish for guests. 

One woman, the mother of numerous children who some- 
times begged her to give them something different from their 
usual fare (plain Johnny-cake), used to promise them " Jimmy - 
cake." It differed from their customary bread in name alone, 
but imagination rendered it a satisfactory dish. 

John Robinson, an Irishman, came to the neighborhood from 
the Hopbottom. His children of the third and fourth genera- 
tion now reside in the township. 

Before 1808, Nicholson had been so reduced by the erection 
of Bridgewater, Clifford, and Harford townships, that only 
twenty-three families were left in it, and of these only a few 
were in the section since named Lenox. They were princi- 
pallj'- the Rynearsons, Millards, Douds, Bells, Halsteads, and 
Hartleys. 

In 1813, the elections of the township were held with those 
of Harford, at the house of H. Tiffany. There were then twenty- 
eight taxables resident in Lenox. The houses were only twenty, 
the horses thirteen, cows thirty-eight, and the oxen twenty- 
three. There were in all but three hundred and forty acres of 



210 HI3TOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

improved land. The largest tax-payers (actual settlers), were: 
Solomon Millard, who had a saw-mill; the widow of Mark 
Hartley, Sr. ; Ebenezer Bartlett (not taxed in Susquehanna 
County the following year); I. Rynearson, Benj. Rider (re- 
moved five years later); Michael Halstead, Rollin and Calvin 
Bell. The highest valuation of property in any of these in- 
stances was little over $1000, and ranged down to $300. Isaac 
Doud had a grist-mill. The holders of the unseated land of the 
township were: John Field, Samuel Meredith, Abraham Hutch- 
ins, Ebenezer Parish, James Barnes, Samuel W. Fisher, Zaccheus 
Collins, Thomas Stewardson, 1 Donald and C. Bell. Within two 
years the purchasers of land had increased, and, among actual 
settlers, were: Amos Payne, Richard McNamara, "William 
Buchannon, John Conrad, Nathan Tiffany (died 1828), and 
Asaph Fuller. A number of the sons of the first settlers came 
of age about this time, and appear on the tax-list. Among 
these were: William Hartley, Okey Rynearson, Henry Mil- 
lard, James Robinson, Isaiah Halstead ; and, a little later, 
Mark Hartley, Jr., John Doud, Aaron Rynearson, and Jacob 
Quick, Jr. 

In 1817, Sol. Millard erected his grist-mill on the Tunkhan- 
nock. His sawmill, distillery, and blacksmith shop were on 
what has long been called Millard's Brook. 

Before December, 1818, the number of houses had doubled, 
lacking one. The " unseated land "-owners included the names 
of several residents of Montrose, viz.: I. Post, A. Howell, H. 
Drinker, A. H. Read, and N. Raynor, who became owners, pro- 
bably, by payment of taxes. Among settlers were : Nathaniel 
Truesdell, Orange Whitney (removed in 1827), Oliver Weth- 
erby, and Charles Webster. 

In 1818, elections for Lenox and Harford were held at the 
house of Jacob Blake, in Harford. 

In 1820, William Hartley was town clerk. 

During the next five years about twenty taxables appear to 
have been added to the settlement. 

In 1825, Benajah Millard had possession of his father's mills, 
but removed within a few years, selling out to James Coil, who 
in 1830 paid the highest tax levied on a resident. A third 
grist-mill (Truesdell's) accommodated the people in 1825, and 
Wm. Hartley had a saw-mill. 

Luther Loomis settled about this time near the lake that bears 
his name, and of which the outlet is Millard's Brook. Soon 
after, John Bailey, a wagon-maker, and Nathaniel and Rial 
Tower, Rhodes Berry, and Nathan Foot were here. Allen 
M'Donald had a grist-mill prior to 1827. Nathaniel Tower was 

1 One of the executors of Henry Drinker, the elder. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 241 

a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner ; he died in 1836, aged 
eighty- eight. 

In 1827 Asa Dimock came to Lenox, from Dundaff, to which 
place he had removed from what is now Herrick, on the Great 
Bend and Coshecton turnpike, in 1818 ; having settled in that 
vicinity in 1807. 

He had been one of the original trustees or commissioners of 
Susquehanna County, appointed by the Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania, and had ever been an active man in affairs connected 
with township or county. His son Shubael, now a resident of 
Avoca, Wis , accompanied him to Lenox. 

At this time the township was strongly democratic in politics. 
During one of the campaigns in which Andrew Jackson was a 
candidate for the presidency, the Lenox election was held at his 
house, when he gave notice that he had a keg of whiskey which 
he would open for those in attendance after the election, pro- 
vided no vote was cast against Jackson. Either all the voters 
were democrats, or the temptation was too strong for their prin- 
ciples ; for Jackson received every vote, and the whiskey was 
opened. 

His sons were: Asa, Jr., Shubael, and Warren. A daughter 
(Mrs. Rhodes Berry) died in 1871, aged nearly seventy-two. 
He died in Lenox late in 1833, aged sixty-two. 

Prior to December, 1828, Win. Jackson had a store and 
tavern at Lenox Corners, or the Junction, as it is sometimes 
termed. Chas. Chandler, Jr., came from Gibson. Benajah Mil- 
lard also kept tavern a short time. Chas. H. Miller had "a 
stand" in 1831. William Hartley's tax was the largest of any 
in 1832. 

In 1833 there were just four times as many houses in Lenox 
as there were twenty years earlier, and there were over one 
thousand acres of improved land. 

About this time Okey Rynearson kept a tavern ; Woodbury 
S. Wilbur purchased from James Coil, Jr., the old mills of 
Solomon Millard; the old farm of the latter was purchased in 
1834 by Mrs. Elizabeth Grow and sons. 

Charles Chandler, Jr., and William Hartley were appointed 
justices of the peace about this time. The former was after- 
wards elected State representative for this county, and died at 
Harrisburg, of smallpox, during the session of legislature in 
the spring of 1840. 

In 1842 C. W. Conrad began blacksmithing in the building 
that was formerly Charles Miller's old barn. At first people 
furnished their own iron for horse-shoes, or whatever they 
wished made at his shop, and paid him in produce. Oats he 
received at eighteen cents per bushel, but to find a market for 
them he had to hire a team and go to Carbondale, where he sold 
16 



242 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

them at an advance of two cents on the bushel, and was glad 
enough to convert them into cash at that price. From this 
small beginning his establishment came to be the most exten- 
sive of its kind in the county, through the business furnished 
him by George H. Giddings, 1 who required mule-shoes for the 
mail-route across Texas to El Paso, of which he was the con- 
tractor; and by the well-known Ben Holliday, on the great 
overland route to California. 

Hand-power gave place to steam ; and to wooden turning- 
lathes were added engine lathes for finishing machinery. The 
capital invested was not less than $6000 before the fire which 
consumed the shop and contents, together with barn and wagon- 
shop adjoining, on the night of June 28, 1869. In the autumn 
of the same year they were rebuilt on a larger scale than before 
the fire. 

The Glenwood hotel was built in 1850 by the Grow brothers, 
who sold it to A. F. Snover, its proprietor for a long time, who 
was succeeded by V. Cafferty. This building was burned 
March 18, 1870. It was an inviting retreat for summer wan- 
derers in search of comfort and rest. A pleasant glen, indeed, 
they found it — shut in by the high green hills that cast their 
shadows on the Tunkhannock, which at this point is spanned 
by a bridge. A little above is " Croquet" Island. Fine trout 
are, or were, found in this vicinity. 

The former pleasant residence of Wm. Hartley, Esq., about 
a quarter of a mile above, was just within sight, on the point 
of land formed by the junction of the east branch with the main 
stream, but fire laid this low some years ago. 

In the other direction in the seeming northern limit of the 
glen is the " old homestead" of the Grows, a part of which, in 
the early settlement of the town, was the home of Solomon Mil- 
lard. Opposite is the post-office now in charge of E. R. Grow. 
It was established in 1835, under the name of Millar chville, 
Woodbury S. Wilbur, postmaster. 

A little lower the "Glenwood mills" are seen, a rebuild by F. 
P. Grow, of Millard's grist-mill, and the new residence of F. P. 
Grow, having in its rear the remains of the old tavern of Charles 
Miller, which had the unique sign of "live and let live." 

In 1834 Charles Chandler's was the only fainted house in all 
Lenox. A year or two later, Mr. Hartley erected the house 
mentioned above, and painted it. 

The tannery of Schultz, Eaton & Co. was erected at Glen- 
wood the same year as the hotel, at a cost of $60,000. This was 
destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1857. It turns out 40,000 sides 

1 A native of Susquehanna County, and a son of the late James Giddings of 
Herrick. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 243 

of leather per year. Its present proprietors are Black, Burhaus 
& Clearwater. 

Asa Baton, one of the original firm, united seemingly diverse 
tastes, the one inducing him in 1856 to erect a church, and the 
other in 1858 to provide a race-course for his own and others' 
enjoyment. Fast horses were his recreation, and before the 
"course" was laid out he had cleared the highway for the dis- 
tance of a mile (between the tannery and the hotel), of every 
stone or unevenness that could retard a horse's speed or lessen 
the comfort of a rider. In the fall of 1861 he conceived the 
idea of assembling the fast horses and fine riders of the county 
to try the race-course on his beautiful flat by the margin of the 
Tunkhannock. The occasion was also dignified by the inaugu- 
ration of the Glenwood Fair, which was under the management 
of an agricultural society of which F. P. Grow was president 
and Asa Eaton treasurer. The fair was held in October three 
years in succession, when it was superseded by the one at 
Nicholson, five miles below. 

Lenox has had two public libraries (miscellaneous), one of 
which is still in existence in West Lenox; the other, at Glen- 
wood, has been for several years among the things that were. 
During the war the township and Soldiers' Aid Society con- 
tributed nobly of men and means to preserve the Union. 

The township continued strongly democratic until the excite- 
ment occasioned by the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill." In the fall of 
1856 a majority of votes against the democratic ticket was cast 
for the first time. A banner was presented to Lenox by the 
ladies of Montrose, as a prize to the township which gave the 
greatest increase of republican votes at the November election 
over the election of the previous month. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

The first school in the vicinity of Glenwood, and probably 
in all Lenox, was taught about 180-1 by Miss Molly Post, in 
a barn belonging to John Marcy, 1 whose farm was partly in 
Susquehanna County, though his residence was just below the 
line, in Luzerne, now Wyoming County. The barn was soon 
needed to store the hay of that season, and then a large tree 
was selected as a shelter for the scholars and teacher till the 
close of the term. 

It was in one of her schools that a boy showed his intelligent 
comprehension of the word " bed." On being told to spell it, 
he began : " B-ah, e-ah, d-ah," and, being unable to pronounce it, 

1 His farm was the first below the Glenwood hotel property. Mr. Marcy was 
from Tunkhannock, and originally from Dutchess County, N. Y. He was 
father-in-law of William Hartley, Esq. 



244 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

his teacher, thinking to aid him, asked what he slept on ; when 
he replied, " Now I know ! sheepskin." 

The first winter school which can be recalled by one of 
Lenox's oldest residents, was taught by a man who was unable 
to prove a sum in addition ; he was discharged, and another 
employed who finished the term, but was then obliged to engage 
the services of one of his pupils to write his bill for teaching, 
being incompetent to do it himself. 

Barns were also used as places for public worship. School- 
houses were afterwards, and for a long time, considered fitting 
temples for praise as well as learning. But these, until within a 
very few years, were poor at best. At present some ambition 
to improve in this direction is apparent. 

But churches have supplanted their use as houses of wor- 
ship. At Lenoxville there is a Methodist church. There is 
a Baptist church at " Tower's settlement," another at Loomis' 
Lake, and still another, built by Mr. Asa Eaton, near the 
tannery. In all but the latter, religious societies are regu- 
larly organized. Mr. Eaton, himself a Baptist, built the church 
when there were none in the vicinity to join him, making it 
tree to all denominations. It is private property, and the use 
of it is granted to the Good Templars, and for lectures, etc. 
The first Baptist Society was recognized by the Abington Bap- 
tist Association, December, lb30. Levi M. Mack was the pastor 
in 1831, and possibly the year previous. Rev. Charles Miller, 
of Clifford, occasionally preached for them. Mr. George W. 
Schofield was "supply" for a time, or until Deacon Rial Tower 
was licensed, and in 1844 ordained pastor. 

There are three Good Templars' lodges in the township — one 
at Glenwood, one at Lenoxville, and the other at West Lenox ; 
and together they have had about 250 members. The number 
is now somewhat diminished. 

The Sons of Temperance had formerly a division in Lenox. 

Sabbath-schools have been held at different times in Glen- 
wood under various superintendents. One was conducted by 
Obadiah Mills and family in his own house with success. The 
present school was begun in 1860 by Mrs. Fred. P. Grow with 
five pupils, in her own room, while a boarder at the hotel in 
Glenwood. 

The highest number in attendance since then has been 125, 
and there are now several assistant teachers, the school being 
held in a neat chapel which Mr. Grow has prepared expressly 
for this purpose. He took for a nucleus the old district school- 
house in which his brother, the Hon. G. A. Grow, first exer- 
cised his talent for debate. An addition of 20 feet to the length 
of the building has been made, but the original floor-boards, 
scoured to a becoming whiteness, retain their places ; while the 



•*$ r ; ■:■:.; .:■■■ ■■,'■..-.;■ 



■ 





,1-7 At. !■ i Ov r-CCNi 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 245 

boards with which it was ceiled are converted into comfortable 
seats. Plaster and paint inside, and paint and shutters outside, 
may partly disguise the old structure, but they give it a fitting 
dress for its new and sacred use. 

Of the success of the superintendent in gaining the confidence 
of the parents whose children are her pupils, an anecdote is 
told which will bear repeating. A man who had been greatly- 
opposed to having his children attend the school, became con- 
vinced at last of the benefit they had derived from it. Aroused 
to a sense of gratitude, before leaving the place he resorted 
to Mrs. Gr. to express it, which he did by saying, "It's the 
d dest best Sunday-school I ever see !" 

One of Miss N. G.'s class was not the dullest pupil, though 
from his familiarity with his father's mill he drew his own 
inference when his teacher told him he was "made of dust." 
The next Sabbath, when he was asked the question, " Of what 
are you made?" he promply replied, "of saw-dust/" 

Miss Carrie Hartley, a former pupil and teacher in this school, 
was for two years a missionary in Madura, India. 

HON. G. A. GROW. 

Galusha A. Grow was bora in Ash ford, now Eastford, Windham County, 
Conn., and in May 1834, at the age of ten years, came from Voluntown of the 
same county, to Susquehanna County, Penna., with his widowed mother, Mr?. 
Elizabeth Grow. Fler husband, Mr. Joseph Grow, had died some years pre- 
vious, leaving her with six children — the oldest a daughter but fourteen years 
old, and the youngest a babe, also a daughter; her four sons, Edwin. Fred- 
erick, Samuel, and Galusha, were between them in age, in the order of their 
names as here given. Mrs. Grow brought to Susquehanna County only her 
oldest son, the youngest daughter, and Galusha. Her eldest daughter, then 
recently married, was going to meet her husband who had bought laud in 
Luzerne County just below Dundaff. They were accompanied by Samuel A. 
Newton, who afterwards bought in Brooklyn, and Charles Barstow, who 
bought the hotel and farm at Crystal Lake. Mrs. Grow bought the farm in 
Lenox formerly owned by Solomon Millard. The laud was then in a poor 
state of cultivation, and the whole 440 acres were obtained for $1300. A 
yoke of oxen and one cow constituted the stock on the farm that year, and 
a field of oats and a few acres of corn were the result of the united labors of 
Edwin and the oxen driven by Galusha. The pigeons that year rested on 
Elk Hill, 1 and were very destructive to the farmers' oats and corn. As Ga- 
lusha was then too young to work, he was assigned a post upon the ridge of 
a barn, which then stood between the corn-field and the oats, that he might 
with two small sticks rattle upon the roof and scare off the pigeons. So he 
spent the days, after the corn came up till it was too large for the pigeons to 
disturb. He was obliged to be up early in the morning 1 , and to carry his 
dinner with him, as the pigeons were so numerous they would destroy a whole 
field in a very short time. Imagination sees the embryo Speaker of Congress 
perched on that barn-roof no less happy and no less dignified — since his post 

1 The Volunteer of that season had a paragraph respecting the eastern part of 
the county : " Nine miles in length and two in width — every foot of which, and 
almost every tree and branch of which, are occupied by pigeons." 

The beech-nuts were the attraction. 



246 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

was one of essential service — than in the palmy days when he occupied the 
third seat in the nation. 

The children had been scattered among relatives after the death of their 
father until Mrs. Grow's residence at Lenox ; but here they were all eventu- 
ally gathered in one family, and remained such for years after attaining their 
majority and engaging in business. The mother died in 1864, and is remem- 
bered by her neighbors as a woman of uncommon worth, and deserving of 
more than an ordinary tribute. 

During the winter of 1836— '37, and that of '37-'38, Galushawas at school 
in the old school-house, which has recently been converted into a neat chapel 
for the use of Mrs. F. P. Grow's Sabbath-school. In that building there 
was then occasionally an old-fashioned spelling-school — " choosing sides " 
between the scholars and those of the next district, which extended as far 
down as Bacon's. Here, too, when he was not yet fourteen years old, he took 
an active part in the Debating Society, which was held alternately in each of 
those districts, for which he prepared himself on his walks twice a day to and 
from foddering cattle, about one mile from the house. 

Assisting his brother in the small country store originally established by 
Mrs. Grow's energy, on the present site of the Glenwood post-office, and 
accompanying him in the spring in rafting lumber down the Susquehanna to 
Port Deposit, Md., Galusha found occupation for seasons when not in school 
until he entered Franklin Academy at Harford, in the spring of 1838. He 
and his younger sister Elizabeth (afterwards the wife of Hon. J.Everett 
Streeter) then had rooms a mile from the academy at Mrs. Farrar's, where they 
boarded themselves; but the winter following, his sister not being with him, 
he roomed in the Institution, and boarded, as one of a club, with Mrs. Walker, 
mother of the present Governor of Virginia. 

Preston Richardson was then Principal, but at his death, soon after, the 
Rev. Willard Richardson succeeded him. and was Mr. Grow's teacher until 
he left, in 1840, for Amherst College. His first political speech was made 
in his senior year at, Amherst, in 1844. He graduated as stated in the 'Men 
of Our Day,' "with high honors in his class, and with the reputation of being 
a ready debater, and a tine extemporaneous speaker." He commenced study- 
ing law with Hon. F. B. Streeter in the winter of 1845, and was admitted to 
the bar of Susquehanna County April 19th, 1847. 

He was law-partner of Hon. David Wilmot at Towanda, 1848-49 ; but his 
health then demanding a resort to out-door pursuits, he spent some time in 
surveying, peeling bark, working on the farm, etc. In the fall of 1850 he 
received the unanimous nomination for the State Legislature by the Demo- 
cratic Convention of the county, which he declined. 

The. same season, the Hon. David Wilmot withdrew as a candidate for 
Congress in the 12th District, with the understanding that the free-soil party 
would support Mr. Grow, hitherto unknown outside of the county. The result 
was the election of Mr. Grow, just one week after his nomination, by a ma- 
jority of 1264 over the Republican candidate, John C. Adams, of Bradford. 
He took his seat December, 1851, at the time but 26 years old — the youngest 
member of Congress. 

In 1852 his majority was 7500, and at the next election the vote was unan- 
imous, owing to his opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska bill. From the date 
of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, Mr. Grow severed his connection 
with the Democratic party; still he continued to represent the Wilmot Dis- 
trict until the 4th of March, 1863 His defeat at the election the previous 
fall was owing to the Congressional apportionment which united Susque- 
hanna County with Luzerne, thus giving a preponderating Democratic vote. 

Mr. Grow's '•' maiden speech" in Congress was reported as among the 
ablest speeches in behalf of the Homestead Bill — a measure he persistently 
brought forward every Congress for ten years, when he had at last the satis- 
faction of signing the law as Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 247 

His passage-at-arras with Keitt. of South Carolina, is yet fresh in the minds 
of many, as a timely and appropriate answer to former Southern insolence. 

July 4th, 1861, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
and " at the close of his term received a unanimous vote of thanks, which 
was the first unanimous vote that had been given by that body to any Speaker 
in many years." 

He was drafted under the first draft, and, although exempted by the board 
of examination as unfit for military duty, he still furnished a substitute. 

Mr. Grow's public career has been admirably summed up in ' The Men of 
Our Day,' as " marked by a persistent advocacy of free homesteads, free ter- 
ritory, human freedom, cheap postage, and indeed every measure by which 
the people were to be made wiser, purer, and happier." 

In 1868, the popular voice in Northern Pennsylvania, and most of the Re- 
publican press of the State, proposed Mr. Grow as successor to Mr. Bucka- 
lew in the IT. S. Senate, and by many "his nomination as the Republican 
candidate for Governor would be accepted with great cordiality and enthu- 
siasm." 

Mr. Grow is now (1872) at the South, and President of the Houston and 
Great Northern Railroad of Texas. 

No man of Susquehanna County has ever been so widely known to states- 
men at home and abroad : nor is it probable that, very soon, any combina- 
tion of circumstances will place another of our citizens more prominently 
before the public. 

For the following list of trees, shrubs, and plants found in Le- 
nox, with other items, the compiler is indebted to a lady of the 
township: — 

Among trees are found the beech ; birch (black and yellow) ; basswood 
(the American lime or linden) ; butternut, or white walnut ; button-wood, or 
American plane-tree ; chestnut ; cherry (black, choke, and red) ; the slip- 
pery elm ; hemlock ; hickory (bitter-nut and small-fruited) ; iron-wood ; maple 
(hard and soft) ; oak (black and white) ; pine (white); white poplar, or Amer- 
ican aspen ; sumach (smooth and poison) ; tulip-tree, or whitewood; willow 
witch-hazel ; and walnut. 

Among shrubs and plants, the mountain currant ; cranberry ; dogwood 
elder (common and panicled) ; frost-grape; gooseberry; hazel; mountain 
laurel; American rose-bay ; raspberry(red and black); wild rose ; sarsaparilla 
sassafras ; scouring-rush ; thorn ; thistle (Canada and common); whortleberry 
trailing arbutus ; anemone ; spring-beauty ; pink azalea, or May-apple ; ad 
der's tongue ; artichoke ; bloodroot ; boneset ; blue-flag ; blue-eyed grass 
bulrushes ; butter-cup ; burdock ; cat-tail ; catnip ; celandine ; checkerberry 
or wintergreen ; chickweed; white clover ; several varieties of club-moss 
comfrey; cotton-thistle; cowslip; crane's-bill; cut-grass; red columbine 
dandelion; ox-eyed daisy ; yellow dock; dodder; "Dutchman's breeches" 
several varieties of ferns, among them the maiden's hair, and walking fern 
golden-rod ; goldthread; Indian-pipe; June-berry ; lilies (meadow, white pond 
and yellow pond) ; live-forever ; high and low mallows ; milk-weed ; mullein 
many varieties of moss ; stinging nettle ; wild parsnip ; partridge-berry ; pen 
nyroyal ; peppermint pickerel-weed ; common plaintain ; poison-ivy ; poke 
prince's pine; purslain; fringed polygala; Solomon's seal (one variety) ; side- 
saddle flower ; varieties of sorrel; spearmint; strawberry; tansey; trillium 
(white, pink, and dull red) ; violets (deep and light blue, and white) ; water- 
cress. 

The farms of this township produce wheat of excellent quality on the high 
grounds; with oats, corn, potatoes, rye, buckwheat, and clover. Of fruit 
there are apples, pears, quinces, grapes, and peaches, though the latter are 
of a very poor quality, and uot abundant. In seasons of unusual length, dry- 
ness, and heat, sweet potatoes of very excellent quality have been grown in 
the valleys of Lenox. 



248 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In early times raccoons were more numerous than animals of any other 
kind ; but deer, black bears, and wolves were here in great numbers. There 
were also panthers, wildcats, beavers, skunks, woodchucks, squirrels (black, 
red, gray, and chipmunks) ; mink, muskrats, marten, etc. As late as Decem- 
ber, 1869, a wildcat was shot in Lenox. Driven by dogs, it had taken shelter 
in a tree. 

Bee-trees were of great value ; and perhaps few were more profitable than 
one recently found in the township, from which was taken 256 lbs. of honey. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

AUBURN. 

When Susquehanna County was set off from Luzerne by act 
of legislature in 1810, the southern line divided the township 
of Braintrim, and by decree of court, April, 1814, the portion 
above the line — about six miles by eight — received the name 
of Auburn. This name had been given by Connecticut survey- 
ors to a section including part of this township, while on Penn- 
sylvania records it had until this time only the former. With 
the exception of Great Bend it is the only township of our 
county which retains its original dimensions. 

It is bounded on the north by the township of Rush, on the 
east by Dimock and Springville, on the south by the county of 
Wyoming, and on the west by that of Bradford, thus being the 
southwestern township of Susquehanna County. 

The Susquehanna River comes at one point within two and 
a half miles of its southern border. 

Tuscarora Creek runs four and a half miles across the north- 
western part of Auburn. The Pochuck in the western, the 
Little Meshoppen near the center, and the west branch of the 
Meshoppen (Riley Creek), have their sources within the town- 
ship. The middle branch of the Meshoppen crosses the south- 
east corner. The Little Meshoppen unites with the main stream 
a few rods from its mouth. 

The lakes of Auburn are few and small, none larger than 
ordinary mill-ponds, except the one crossed by the northern 
line of the township, Kinney's Pond, which is one mile in 
length and from one-quarter to one-half mile in width. 

The general surface is rolling or hilly, but nearly every acre 
is tillable. The soil is a clayey loam. 

There are various stone-quarries in the township. The strata 
of a quarry about half a mile south of Auburn Corners are from 
half an inch to several inches in thickness, without the dip so 
common to the rocks of this region, but horizontal, with the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 249 

appearance of having been deposited in quiet waters, and not 
disturbed by any subsequent upheaval. Marine shells are occa- 
sionally found imbedded between the layers, also vegetable 
remains or their impressions. 1 Stone has been drawn from this 
quarry for building purposes, both to Wilkes-Barre and Mont- 
rose, though in the latter case it might appear like ''taking 
coals to Newcastle." 

The township has four post-offices, viz., Auburn Four Cor- 
ners, Auburn Center, South Auburn, and West Auburn, or New 
Laceyville, and these points are so many centers of business, 
the last mentioned being the portion of the township first 
settled. This was in the vicinity of the upper branch of the 
Tuscarora Creek, which rises in Kinney's Pond. 

SETTLEMENT. 

In 1797, Lyman Kinney, from Litchfield County, Conn., made 
a clearing on the place now owned by Hamlet Hill ; it was then 
a part of the 3000 acres which his father Daniel had bought 
under a Connecticut title. As this proved defective, Lyman, 
prior to 1814, sold his improvements to John and Thomas 
Morley, and left. The Pennsylvania title was held by Henry 
Drinker, of Philadelphia, who transferred it to Thos. P. Cope, 
of the same city. 

Lloyd Goodsell, it is asserted, was the first settler in East 
Auburn ; his location is now occupied by Frederick Russell. 
His wife was a daughter of Isaac Bronson, of Rush. 

Myron Kasson has been supposed by some to be the " first 
to attack the unbroken forest of Auburn, lying out in the woods 
at night, not knowing of a human being within ten miles of 
him." Mr. Miner mentions both in his list of the settlers here in 
1799. Both left for the East in the fall. 

Ezekiel Avery, in 1800, came from Connecticut with Benajah 
Frink, then single, and made a clearing northwest of the corners 
(where Mr. Linaberry now lives), and was the first who wintered 
in Auburn. His wife the next spring brought in the family ; 
on the journey one of the horses was lost, and they had to 
diminish their means of support by the purchase of another. 
His sons were David and George. 

William Frink, father of Benajah, came this year, and began 
a clearing on the hill between the latter and Mr. Avery, and 
afterwards located here -with his family. He died about 1829. 
His son William was but a lad when he came to Auburn. 

Benajah Frink built the first frame house upon the site of the 
one now occupied by Mrs. Jacob Titman ; he also built the first 

1 A variety of these, as also of Indian relics found in the vicinity, are now 
in the possession of J. B. Beardsley. 



250 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

cider-mill. He split pine logs and shaved them to make clap- 
boards. He married, February, 1805, the youngest daughter 
of Isaac Hancock, of Eush, and his sons were, Orrin, Tracy, 
Isaac, and William. He died August, 1851. His widow is 
living in New Milford, after having spent sixty-one years in 
Auburn. She states that Mr. Kasson came in a year later than 
Mr. Goodsell, and that he boarded with the latter. She remem- 
bers hearing at the time that Mr. G., being out of meal, went to 
get his grain ground, and was gone two or three days, during 
which the family lived on squash and milk. [It is possible 
Mrs. F. mistakes Mr. Kasson's second coming for the first ; he 
had left the town when she came to it.] 

According to the recollection of Mr. Paul Overfield, of 
Braintrim, Solomon Kinney came, in 1800, to the farm now 
occupied by J. Benscoter, two and a half miles northwest of 
Auburn Center. He was the first in that vicinity. It is said 
that, after harvesting a fine crop of wheat, he lost the whole by 
fire communicated to it from a fallow which he was burning, 
and from that to his house. He saved a few effects, and with 
his wife left the country never to return. 

Eldad Bronson and son Amos came to the town about 1801, 
from Connecticut. 

John Passmore, then a minor, came from Rhode Island, and 
took up land near the Corners, under a Connecticut title, but 
did not locate until five years later. 

Cyril Peck, Ezekiel and Asa Lathrop were considered in the 
neighborhood, though located beyond the township lines. 

Hiram Carter and Thomas Wheeler were the first settlers in 
South Auburn, the former on the place now owned by Rufus 
J. Carter, and the latter on the one now owned by E. O. Dunlap. 
Both came in June, 1805, from Black Walnut, in Braintrim, 
near Joshua Keeney's. 1 The sons of Hiram Carter were Jonas, 
Theron, Samuel, and Daniel. 

Chester Adams must have come to Mr. Kasson ? s place at 
Auburn Corners prior to 1805, as at that date Mr. K. was on the 
farm at Springville, which Mr. Adams sold him in exchange 
for that at the Corners. 

His sons were Chester and Elijah. 

The sons of Thomas Morley were, Ambrose, John, Thomas 
(representative 1843-44), and Eben. P. 

Eli Billings settled about 1805, on the Tuscarora Creek, at 
what is called New Laceyville. He had a son Eli, who made 

1 To prevent confusion, .it may be well to state there were three distinct 
families in old Braintrim whose names are so similar as to cause mistakes. 
Capt. Joshua Keeney and Capt. Joseph Kinny were outside of Susquehanna 
County ; Deacon Daniel Kinney, father of Lyman Kinney, as above, and Solomon 
Kinney of another family. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 251 

the first clearing where Elisha Cogswell now lives, and who 
died in 1815. Eli Billings, Sen., in 1839, sold to David Lacey. 
When he came to the place there was a man named Sesson on 
the farm, now owned by Rev. Bela Cogswell (over the line in 
Bradford County), and one George Gamble where Oliver Warner 
now lives; and these were the only families between him and 
Abiel Keeney's saw-mill on the Tuscarora, two miles above 
Skinner's Eddy. The site of this saw-mill, some time between 
1790 and 1800, was occupied by a saw and grist-mill, built by 
Elihu Hall. 

Nathaniel, second son of Eli Billings, made the first clearing 
and put up a log house on what is known as " the James farm." 

Hosea, the third son, had two sons, Eli and Nathaniel. Joseph 
and Henry Billings were sons of Eli senior. Most of the 
family moved to the West, and none are now in Auburn. 

William Cooley, who married a daughter of Joshua Keeney, 
came in a year or two after H. Carter and Wheeler, and settled 
near the present site of Carlin's mills, on the Little Meshoppen, 
where his widow still resides. Robert, Stephen, William, and. 
Daniel Cooley were brothers. 

In 1806, John Passmore returned, made a clearing, and built 
a cabin at Auburn Corners. Feb. 1807, he married Elizabeth 
Overfield of Braintrim. He was commissioned the first justice 
of the peace in 1816, by Gov. Snyder, for Auburn, Rush, and 
Middletown. He had four sons, Norman, John, Nicholas, and 
Joseph, and seven daughters. He died March 12th, 1835, aged 
53 years. 

In 1807, John Riley came to the place still known as his, 
southwest of the Corners ; and a road was laid out from the 
river to Cooley's. This road was afterwards extended farther 
north, as appears by the court record: — 

Luzerne County, ss., November session, 1808. The petition of Joshua 
Keeny and others was read, praying for viewers to be appointed to view and 
lay out a road from or near William Cooley's, on Little Meshoppen, to inter- 
sect a road now laid out near Lathrop's mill, a distance of about eight miles ; 
wherefore the court appoint Henry Chapman, Eleazar Gaylord, Thomas 
Wheeler, Asa Lathrop, Myron Kasson, and Zophar Blakesly to view the 
ground proposed for said road. 

Many were the privations endured among the early settlers ; 
but, to some, there was none greater than the absence of their 
former privileges of religious worship. About 1808, Eld. 
Davis Dimoek came to this little community and baptized a 
few of its members. Meetings for prayer were held at Ezekiel 
Lathrop's, a mile south of the Lakes, in Dimoek. 

David Avery, oldest son of Ezekiel, and his sister, now Mrs. 
Jonathan Vaughn, used to come to the "Middle school-house" 
in Bridgewater (just below the south line of Montrose), a dis- 



252 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

tance of twelve miles, to hear Eld. Dimock preach. She rode 
on horseback, and her brother walked beside her ; they could 
not have come in a wagon if they had had one. When David 
went to Harris' mill, about nine miles from home, he frequently 
spent the night, in returning, at George Mowry's, above the 
Lakes ; and, so scarce then was meal, Mrs. M. would take some 
from his sack to provide him a supper. He went West 25 years 
ago. 

There was little grass ; cattle browsed on young brush, and 
hogs were " turned out to beech-nuts " In common with others 
in all this section, the first settlers of Auburn purchased their 
lands under the Connecticut title, and many paid their money, 
in good faith, to the agents of the Connecticut claims. After 
the final legal decision made in favor of the Pennsylvania title, 
some who had paid their money, and toiled hard to secure a 
home, gave up in despair and left the country. 

Occasionally, additions were made to those who remained, 
and in 1813, the first assessment of the township (still called 
Braintrim) was made by the commissioners of Susquehanna 
Co. The tax-payers were: Chester Adams, Ezekiel and David 
Avery, Eli Billings, Eldad Bronson, Amos Bronson, Hiram 
Carter, William and Stephen Cooley, Benajah Frink, Philip 
and George Haverly, Abraham Lott, Thomas Morley, John 
Oakley, John Passmore, Comfort Penney, John Eiley, John 
Eoss, and Thomas Wheeler. 

In 181-1, James Hines appears to have had the farm of John 
Boss, and Daniel Sterling that of Comfort Penny, who had re- 
moved. 

Robert Dunlap, Simeon Green, Larry Dunmore, Jesse and 
Josiah Wakefield were among the new-comers, as also in 1815 
were Elias and Amos Bennett, Lawrence Meacham, Palmer 
Guile, and James B. Turrel. The last named bought of Lloyd 
Goodsell. 

In 1816, Philonus Beardsley bought a farm of John Pass- 
more, the same now occupied by J. B. Beardsley, his son. He 
brought his family from Litchfield Co., Conn., the following 
year. His oldest son, A. Beardsley, Esq., of Springville, re- 
mained in Auburn until 1829. Charles, the second son, after- 
wards resided in Montrose, and later, established an extensive 
carriage manufactory in New York city. 

Mr. P. Beardsley resided in Auburn until his death, early in 
1833. 

In 1817, John Oakley's place was occupied by Charles Ash- 
ley. Julius Coggswell was in Auburn this year ; also Thomas 
W. James, Hiram Whipple, and Solomon Dimmock. 

Jabez Sumner and others, who may have come a year or two 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 253 

earlier. [In taking the tax list for a guide the compiler is not 
sure of the precise year of arrival.] 

In 1818, Curtis Russel; in 1819, Edward Dawson, John and 
Waltrin Love. 

The first town meeting on record was in 1819. Philonus 
Beardsley was then elected town clerk ; Elias Bennett and 
George Harding, supervisors; Curtis Russel and Hiram Whip- 
ple, constables; C. Adams, B. Frink, and E. Bennett, freeholders; 
John Passmore and John Riley, poor-masters. 

In 1820, there were thirty voters in the township. 

During the next five years, Francis Pepper (from Rush), 
David Taylor, Daniel Gregory, George and Simeon Evans, 
Samuel Tewksbury, and Milton Harris had arrived. The last 
named and S. Evans had saw-mills. 

In 1826, and for five or six years following, Jonathan Kel- 
logg, a cabinetmaker, Joseph Carlin (where he and his sons now 
live), Robert Manning, Thomas Risley, Caldwell McMicken, 
Richard Stone, William Sherwood, Elisha Coggswell, Jacob 
Low, Alden H. Seeley, and Oliver C. Roberts, besides the sons 
of several early settlers and many temporary residents, appear 
among the taxables. William Overfield made the first clearing 
on Shannon Hill in 1832. We extract from a newspaper the 
following : — 

" Elisha Coggswell first settled on Tuscarora Creek, two and a half miles 
below New Laceyville. in 1815. was married in 1816, remained there until 
the spring of 1833, when he removed to Auburn, where he and his wife still 
reside. 

" He caught in one season seven bears and five wolves. Another time, while 
on a hill near by, two cubs were discovered ; one was shot. With the first 
cry of pain, the dam sprang from some bushes to its side. Hastily smelling 
the wound and divining the cause, she rushed with headlong fury on the 
aggressor, who, meanwhile, was hastily reloading his gun, and when she had 
nearly reached him, a bullet stopped her. Mr. C. completed his eightieth 
year, April 18, 1872. He has been class-leader in the M. E. church nearly 
half a century, and still walks to church nearly a mile, almost always attend- 
ing evening meetings." 

In 1832, it was proposed to take out Auburn and Springville 
to form part of a new county. 

Forty years ago chopping and clearing was the order of the 
day. The inhabitants were largely in debt for their lands, and 
it was no easy matter to do the clearing, put up their buildings, 
and support their families, and lift the debt to Cope and Drinker 
(the principal landholders in Auburn), while rye and corn 
sold at less than fifty cents, and wheat scarcely a dollar a bushel, 
and good two-year old cattle at $8 or $10 per head. 

Thirty years ago the ' Spectator,' June 20th, stated, "In the 
southwest part of Auburn may be seen a beautiful sight, to 
wit, seventy acres of fine winter wheat in one field." 



254 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The Auburn people claim that theirs is the best producing 
township in the county, and instances are given which give 
some color to their claim. 

John Tewksbury raised a stalk of buckwheat in 1869 which 
measured six feet and three-fourths of an inch in height; and 
of several specimen of oats raised by him, the heads were two 
feet and a half long. In South Auburn, Samuel Tewksbury 
has on his farm a heifer which when one year, one month, and 
eleven days old, weighed 650 pounds, and her calf, then two 
days old, weighed 42 pounds. The young farmers are not a 
whit behind the old in vigor, if we may judge by the fact that 

F. S , of the same township, raked 1370 sheaves of rye in 

ten hours one August day of 1869. 

When Eli Billings came to West Auburn, neighbors were re- 
mote, no roads, no church, no schools, no mills. Black's mill, 
now Lewis's, below Merryall's, on the Wyalusing, was the 
nearest. A few marked trees guided the traveler to it, and a 
few logs and bushes were cleared away so that a horse could 
carry a grist on his back. 

Hosea Billings, another son of the pioneer, relates the fol- 
lowing : — 

" Well do I remember when a lad my father sent me to mill, and, as it was 
late when I got my grist and started for home, night overtook me on my 
way. When about one mile from home my horse stopped, and then I saw 
before me what looked like balls of fire — probably the eyes of a wolf. It 
would not give the path, so I had to turn out and go around through the 
woods. I lost my hat getting through the brush, and went home bare- 
headed." He adds : "If I could see you I would give you some idea how 
much the first settlers had to undergo." 

Lawrence Meacham came from New Hampshire and settled 
in the southeastern part of Auburn in 1815. His daughter 
says: — 

"The first night he stayed on his place was in January, and the snow was 
two or three feet deep. He slept on hemlock boughs beside a fire which 
kept himself and a colored man from freezing. In the morning they began 
chopping, but the timber was so frozen it broke their axes. They left, and 
father did not return till the next spring. In two or three years he moved 
his family to the little clearing remote from roads and neighbors, and into a 
log-cabin with a blanket for the door. Thick woods, howling wolves, deer, 
wildcats, and wild-turkeys were at that time in abundance. I have heard 
my mother say, 'I was so lonesome I was glad to see even a hunter's dog 
come along.' 

"My father had often to be out late at night, when on his journeys for 
provisions, and mother was alone in the cabin with only a little boy; while 
from an hour before sunset until sunrise the next morning, the wolves kept 
up a constant howling up and down the creek, which passes within half a 
mile of the door, and many a time was this so distinct as to seem within the 
clearing. Twice father had his little flock of sheep killed by them." 

The construction of a log-cabin has well been styled " one 
of the pioneer arts;" and lest it should become also one of the 
lost ones, the following directions are given: — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 255 

"Cut your logs to suit the length and width you wish to make your room. 
Notch them near the ends, that they may lie close when crossed, and that 
you may not have too large cracks to 'mud and chink up.' When you roll 
them up, put the largest logs on one side, with an extra one on top, that one 
side of the roof may be higher than the other ; then if you have a few boards 
to cover it, with some slabs to lay over the cracks, your roof will be com- 
plete — only when it rains too hard. The inside can be soon finished with 
little planing or working, except the chimney. If you have boards for the 
lower floor, hemlock bark will do for the upper one. One window-sash, con- 
taining half a dozen of the smaller-sized window-panes, will let in a peep of 
daylight and sunshine. Bore some holes in the logs inside, drive in some 
sticks, lay boards on, and you have both pantry and cupboard in one, two, 
or three shelves, as the case may be. If you've nothing better, a blanket 
may serve for a door." 

But a still more primitive style of architecture must have 
prevailed prior to the erection of the first saw-mills in the 
county, when boards and window-sash were not to be had, and 
when chimneys were as wide as the cabin except at the roof. 

Oiled paper for window-panes was very common. Not less 
primitive than the buildings were some of their furnishings. 
Bedsteads or tables needed each but one leg, a corner of the 
cabin giving support to two sides of either. A slab supported 
by four short, round sticks formed a bench which took the 
place of chairs. Small branches of hemlock or birch were 
made to serve as brooms long years after the first cabins were 
erected, and large clean chips answered for plates, but one large 
central dish oftener served for a whole family. If, as sometimes 
happened, one child was inclined to secure more than his share of 
its contents, his hands were soon tied to give others a due chance. 

"A good-sized log hollowed out and covered with a slab 
constituted the pioneer's beef-barrel, and venison was his beef." 

Rougher than the cabins were the roads of early times, cut 
through dense forests, the large trees and saplings felled as 
near to the ground as possible, the former removed and the 
latter permitted to lie, and stumps and roots must be left to 
decay where they grew. Still, to the children of the pioneer, 
an ox-sled ride over such a road was not without its fascina- 
tions. 

The first path or road in West Auburn, instead of following 
the creek, crossed the hills to the Benscoter place, and thence 
to Lyman Kinney's. 

The timber was not so heavy on the hills as nearer the val- 
leys, and the ground was dryer for unworked roads; and 
this may account for the choice of location of many of the 
early settlers. 

Auburn is decidedly an agricultural township. A large 
quantity of grain is raised which mostly finds its way to the 
Lackawanna valley; and considerable attention is paid to th« 
raising of stock, and the dairy business. If not exactly " a land 



256 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

flowing with milk and honey," it yet can boast of an amount of 
the same equal to other townships of the county ; one farmer 
milked twenty-nine cows the last summer, and in the winter of 
1870-71 had 182 swarms of bees in his cellar. 

The game which once abounded has disappeared, but as late 
as 1830, an old hunter was able to take up a note as per agree- 
ment in deer skins, one of which showed that the deer had been 
attacked by a wild-cat. 

Machinery and horse-power are now introduced into much 
of farm work, as well as into other departments of business. 
Grain, formerly threshed by hand at the rate of fifteen bushels 
a day, is now rushed through the machine, in some instances, 
at the rate of a bushel a minute. 

The summer of 1865 was a very productive season in Au- 
burn, grain-fields were measured by the hundred acres. 

The present wealth of Auburn is largely due to men who, 
though they came to the township within the last thirty-five 
years, might well be termed pioneers, since they cleared the 
farms they occupy, and reared log cabins too remote from 
others for neighborly comfort. Some of the late settlers are 
from New Jersey ; but a larger number are of foreign birth. 
The names of Logan and Eooney are mentioned among the 
first Irish settlers here, in 1838. There are 500 taxables in 
Auburn, about 200 of whom are Irish. From being one of the 
poorest townships in the county, and one of the least in inhabit- 
ants, Auburn has become one of the richest and most populous. 

But riches must be taxed, and in this particular the people 
have felt burdened, and have neglected to make provision for 
the public education commensurate with their wealth. 

The Lehigh Valley E. E. recently extended up the Susque- 
hanna Eiver, passes near the southern border of the town, and 
cannot fail to produce a rapid advance in its industrial interest. 

Near the western line of the township at New Laceyville a 
temporary interest in petroleum sprang up in 1865, which gave 
the place some prominence. [See Mineral Eesources.] It will 
be recollected that this was the location of Eli Billings, sixty 
years previous. After the farm came into the hands of David 
Lacey it was divided ; a portion being still owned by his son, 
E. J. Lacey. 60 acres passed into the possession of T. E. Brown, 
who in 1854 sold to J. C. Lacey, a son of Isaac ; 13 acres passed 
to S. W. Eddy, who afterwards sold to the Eev. Asa Brooks ; 
and it is now owned by A. P. and L. B. Lacey. Auburn has 
one chop and two grist-mills, four blacksmith shops, one chair 
factory and cabinet shop, six saw-mills, six stores, six churches 
and three hotels. 

The Tuscarora Creek crosses a corner of Bradford Co. on its 
way into Wyoming Co., entering the Susquehanna Eiver near 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 257 

Skinner's Eddy, about ten miles from its head, furnishing with 
its tributaries motive power for fifteen saw-mills, three grist- 
mills, two shingle-mills, one planing-mill, one cabinet manu- 
factory, one carding-machine, one tannery, one blacksmith 
shop, besides two or three lathe-machines. Four of the mills 
are in Susquehanna Co. One of these, at New Laceyville, 
manufactures 500,000 shingles annually. Other factories once 
in the vicinity are not now in operation. The place has (1872) 
two stores, a cabinet shop, a carpenter shop, and a blacksmith 
shop. Daniel Seeley's steam saw-mill is near New Laceyville. 

The Methodist church is a building 33 by 48 feet, with a 
spire 80 feet high. It has a fine lecture-room which serves 
also for a select school. 

There are also a Methodist and a Baptist church at Auburn 
Four Corners, and another Methodist church on Jersey Hill, a 
mile from the Center. 

The Roman Catholic chapel is about half way between the 
Center and the Corners. 

The first postmaster was Treadway Kellogg, at Auburn Four 
Corners. Chester Adams succeeded him in 1839. 

Town elections are held at the Center, formerly at the house 
of George Haverly, but, after 1860, at James Lott's, now W. 
N. Bennett's. There are now three licensed hotels in Auburn 
— two at the Center, and the other at the Corners. Near the 
latter, many years ago, there was a blacksmith shop, the eccen- 
tric owner of which advertised himself as a ''son of Vulcan," 
who was " like to fail and blow out for want of stock." 

The first temperance movement at Shannon Hill was at- 
tended with some opposition. Wm. Overfield gave notice to 
those whom he had invited to a barn-raising (in 1837), that he 
should have no liquor ; whereupon several professedly tempe- 
rance men refused to assist him. One man, in particular, had 
declined, after hearing Mr. O. say he could not have liquor, 
" even if the timbers had to remain on the ground till they 
rotted." "Very well," said Mr. O., "I should like your help 

very much, but / can't have liquor." Then Mr. , with a 

strong expletive, declared he would come anyhow; and he did, 
bringing his two sons with him. Fifteen persons raised the 
barn — which was as large as any in Auburn at that time. 

The war-record of Auburn compares favorably with other 
townships, as given in a later chapter. A heavy draft for sol- 
diers was made in the fall of 1862, when a young man in the 
neighborhood of the " Four Corners" was summoned to the 
field of strife. His father, true to the impulses of paternal 
affection, determined to go instead of the son. The latter ob- 
jected, friends remonstrated, believing the son could better be 
spared. But the father persisted, went to the examining sur- 
17 



258 HISTOET OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

geon, was pronounced sound, and made ready to start. While 
in Montrose, previous to the final departure of the company, 
it was found that the quota of Auburn was overdrawn, and, 
the name of the person for whom our hero was substituted 
being last on the list, he was excused, and was soon welcomed 
home. 

One young man, eighteen years of age, served during the 
war, and is said to have received ten perforations by bullets; 
but returned home, and has since married. 

Sisters worked the farm while brothers went to the war. 
In one instance, two girls, aged respectively sixteen and four- 
teen, with their little brother, aged twelve, dug eighty bushels 
of potatoes ; and, in company with their lather, threshed two 
hundred bushels of buckwheat, and gathered three hundred 
and fifty bushels of apples. 

At Shannon Hill, early in the war, all the young men en- 
listed but one; the patriotic girls decided that they stood in need 
of no home guard, and he, too, volunteered, became a brave 
soldier, received a wound, and eventually came home respected 
by all. 

In 1868, about forty persons were living in the township 
over seventy years of age, ten of whom were over eighty 
years, and one, Thomas Devin, a native of Ireland, was ninety- 
six. [Since deceased, when ninety-eight, lacking one month.] 

There is considerable rough, heavily timbered land in the 
township, but nearly all is seated. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

FRANKLIN. 

About the year 1788, Timothy Pickering, of Philadelphia, 
patented a large tract of land lying along the valley of Snake 
Creek, and west of a line since forming the east line of the 
township of Silver Lake. Tench Coxe also patented a tract, 
afterwards included in the southwest part of old Lawsville, 
and extending into Bridgewater; and, October, 1796, Henry 
Drinker, also of Philadelphia, patented a large tract east of 
that of Pickering, and running south into New Milford, and 
■east to Great Bend. Drinker's tracts, containing 20,750 acres, 
were conveyed, in 1796, to Ephraim Kirby and Samuel A. 
Law, David Welch, Rufus Lines (five hundred acres in 1797), 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 259 

Jacob Tallman, Kobert Bound (or Bowne), and others; and 
were then re-surveyed into lots of one hundred acres each. 

In August of that year, Eph. Kirby and others (not then 
residents), presented a petition, praying the court, then in ses- 
sion at Wilkes-Barre, to set off a new township, six miles 
square; having Willingborough, now Great Bend, for its east- 
ern boundary, and extending from the twenty-first to the 
twenty-seventh mile-stone on the State line. The petition was 
"under advisement" until January, 1797, and the ordering of 
the court in its favor was not "finally" confirmed until Janu- 
ary, 1798. The township received the name of Lawsville, in 
honor of Samuel A. Law, 1 a landholder, to whose influence, 
doubtless, it was owing that most of those who settled in 
Lawsville prior to 1805, were from his native town, Cheshire, 
New Haven Co., Conn. 

In 1802, a petition for annexing one and a half miles to the 
south of Lawsville was brought before the court, but it was 
not granted until three years later. 

For thirty years, Lawsville remained undivided; when, in 
December, 1885, Franklin was erected from the southern por- 
tion, in connection with a strip, about a mile wide, from the 
northern part of Bridgewater. 

Though the township of Liberty, rather than Franklin, is 
the remnant of old Lawsville, the former had not a settler when 
Lawsville was erected ; and for many years the south part of 
the township maintained its precedence both in population and 
influence. 

From the first town meeting, in 1805, for more than 
twenty years, the south part, now Franklin, contained more 
voters than the north part, now Liberty, and the town meet- 
ings were held in the former ; but about the year 1827 or '28, 
the north part proved its superiority in numbers by carrying 
the vote to change the place of town elections to its own neigh- 
borhood. The men of the south part chafed some at this, but 
they had no alternative but to submit, which they did peaceably 
for a number of years, though feeling jealous of a numerical 
power that might force them into other measures, equally 
against their wishes. 

When the subject of accepting the provisions of the school 
law was agitated, they wished to suspend their decision for a 
time ; while they of the north readily voted for it. This pre- 
cipitated a separation. 

Between the two parties the time-honored name of Lawsville 
was dropped from the list of Susquehanna townships. 

1 Of Hon. S. A. Law, a daughter of Roswell Smith writes : " He was ever a 
welcome visitor at my father's house, when business called him to this region. 
He was gentlemanly, affable, and noticed children kindly." 



260 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

From the manuscript of Mrs. N. Park we glean the follow- 
ing:— 

Three-quarters of a century ago, the forest that covered the land of both 
townships was unbroken, except where the beavers had destroyed the timber 
to build a dam across a branch of Wylie Creek. One or two small lakes, 
fringed with pond-lilies, reflected from their still depths the varied aspects 
of the sky. These and the busy brooklets were breathing-places within the 
great mass of vegetable life. The principal timber consisted of hemlock, 
beech, sugar and soft maple, birch, ash, chestnut, pine, poplar, basswood, 
ironwood, elm, and cherry; these were found proportionally much as in the 
order here given. Interspersed through the forest, in many places, was an 
underwood of smaller growth, such as the blue beach, whistlewood or black 
maple, shad or June-berry, several varieties of alder and elder, witch-hazel, 
sassafras, spice or fever bush, sumach, thorns, willows by water-courses, and 
occasionally on high lands, box, and leather-wood. Among the many plants 
and roots now abounding in the forests of Franklin, and reputed to possess 
healing virtues, are spikenard, sarsaparilla, several kinds of cohosh, wild 
turnip, ginseng, Solomon's seal, valerian, prince's pine, gold thread, snake 
root, brook-liverwort, low centaury, golden rod, and balmony. 

The surface of Franklin is made up of hills and gentler 
slopes with little table-land, and in the vicinity of its streams, 
small flats and narrow valleys. None of the hills are of suffi- 
cient height to claim the name of mountains, though from 
several summits fine views of the surrounding country can be 
obtained. Some are rough, and so thickly covered with rocks 
and stones as to render their cultivation difficult, if not impossi- 
ble; but many are comparatively smooth and tillable. The 
soil is considered quite equal to that of other townships in this 
section. 

Only two streams worthy of note have any considerable part 
of their course in Franklin : these are Snake and Wylie Creeks. 
Snake Creek and its tributaries furnish the western part of the 
township many good mill-seats with an abundance of water- 
power. Its principal sources are Jones' Lake and Williams' 
Pond, one or two miles apart, in the northern part of Bridge- 
water. Both branches afford mill privileges before their 
junction. One fails to perceive in the course of Snake Creek 
anything to give rise to its distinctive name; on the contrary, 
it manifests fewer "serpentine" proclivities than creeks in 
general. 

Wylie Creek is a smaller stream offering few facilities for busi- 
ness within the township limits. It is formed by the union of 
many rills from living springs in different sections of the town- 
ship. Their confluence in the eastern section gives a water- 
power sufficient for saw-mills; from that point the creek runs 
northeasterly to the eastern boundary of the township, when its 
course is due north for two or three miles. It enters Great 
Bend township near the middle of its western line, and again 
flowing northeast it reaches the Susquehanna Eiver a short dis- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 261 

tance below the village, and near the former residence of 
Simeon Wylie, in honor of whom it was named. 

On the arrival of the first settlers in the vicinity of these 
streams, they found them, and Franklin's lone lake, well 
stocked with a variety of fish, of which the trout was the most 
highly prized. 

One of the largest tributaries of the Snake is Silver Creek, 
which is formed by the outlets of Silver and Cranberry Lakes 
in the adjoining township on the west. Another stream, vari- 
ously named as Stony, Cold Brook, and Falls Creek, has its 
rise also in that township, and flows into Silver Creek near the 
Salt Spring, just above which it exhibits a cascade, leaping 
over ragged rocks in a darkly shadowed defile. [Around this 
and the Mineral Spring lingers the legend given on a preceding 
page. Modern enterprise has reared a woolen factory here.] 
The locality has been for many years a resort for parties of 
pleasure from near and even distant townships; and, formerly, 
they could have found no wilder spot than this, enhanced by 
the picturesque, in all our county. But the efforts to utilize 
the spring have shorn it of much that was attractive in its sur- 
roundings. Other qualities than the saline are perceptible in 
the water of this spring; and both recent and early attempts 
have been made to turn to profit its supposed ingredients; but 
as yet only salt has been obtained, and this, though excellent 
in kind, has not proved remunerative in quantity. 

The following advertisement appeared in the Montrose ' Cen- 
tinel' in the fall of 1818: — 

" The sportsmen of Susquehanna County are invited to attend a wolf-hunt 
on the waters of Snake Creek near the Salt Spring, on Friday, 27th of Nov. 
A large tract of wilderness will be surrounded and drove to the center in 
close order, until the party arrives at a certain circle marked out by lopping 
of bushes, when a halt will be made for further orders. Danger need not be 
apprehended, as the circle will be drawn around a hill." 

From the diary of I. Richardson it appears that the hunt 
took place on the day appointed; and this is probably the one 
referred to by a recent contribution to the Montrose ' Repub- 
lican :■ — 

"Wolves were plenty and brought high bounties for scalps. In December, 
1818, a great hunt was started, of five hundred men, including a circle of 
forty-seven miles. The hunters were divided into squads of tens and twenties 
and properly officered, and moved towards the center. Droves of deer were 
thus hedged in, but no wolves, and but one bear and one fox were captured." 

As late as May 25th, 1830, Mr. Joseph Fish pursued a gang 
of wolves from the scene of their depredations in Lawsville, 
and captured seven whelps, the old one escaping at that time; 
but soon after he caught her in a trap, and since that time little 
trouble has been had from wolves in the township. 



262 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

[So uniform are the floral productions of the county, that 
those of Lenox may serve as a sample of the whole. Mrs. Park, 
•without attempting a technical classification, mentions the birds 
and animals found here ; and adds a tribute to Franklin pioneers.] 

Only one or two eagles are known to have been seen here. The Yirginia 
horned and the little screech owl; hen, night, and sparrow-hawks; ravens, 
blackbirds, crows, catbirds, kingbirds, bob o-links, pigeons, partridges, 
quails, meadow larks, bluebirds, song sparrows, robins, yellowbirds, chip- 
ping-birds, thrushes, Phcebe birds, snowbirds, humming-birds, wrens, swal- 
lows, cuckoos, blue-jays, the " whip-poor-will," and several varieties of wood- 
peckers are well known in the vicinity. A red bird about the size of a robin, 
with black wings, is sometimes seen, and also another variety of the red bird, 
which is smaller. 

Wolves, bears, panthers, and wild cats were formidable foes to the early 
settlers. Foxes, skunks, minks, weasels, and muskrats, found or made them 
" holes" in Franklin, and all are not yet ousted. The animals subsisting on 
the bark of trees, on browse, seeds, plants, roots, nuts, and fruit, were deer, 
woodchucks, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, and moles. It is not 
now known that any beavers were seen by the first settlers ; certainly not by 
their descendants. 

There was no lack of striped snakes and water-snakes. Rattlesnakes in- 
fested only the eastern part of the township ; many have been destroyed, but 
the race is not extinct. The milk-snake has occasionally been found in the 
dairy coiled in a pan of milk. Frogs in great numbers inhabit all the swamps 
and ponds. Toads abound. A species of turtle or land tortoise is sometimes 
found in Franklin, but so rarely as to be of but little interest. The bat is 
also seen, and innumerable species of insects. 

Thus life was everywhere in this section before the eoming of civilized 
man. 

Savages are supposed not to have dwelt here, though there are evidences 
that they sometimes passed over the ground. It is certain they knew of the 
existence of salt springs in this vicinity. 

The pioneers of this section were adventurous and enterprising men and 
women, whom we proudly remember as our ancestors. Neither rich nor 
poor, they belonged to a class which, with small capital, maintained a noble 
independence, by persevering industry and prudent economy. And, if they 
were not the descendants of parents of high literary culture and scientific 
attainments, neither were they the progeny of people debasingly ignorant, 
and uneducated ; but of persons possessing good common sense and natural 
abilities, who had in a great measure been denied those advantages which 
may be gained by long and constant attendance at good schools. Not that 
they were wholly ignorant of books ; tradition says most of them could read 
and write, knew something of arithmetic and geography, though some were 
never at school more than two weeks altogether. 

A strong religious element, better incomparably than wealth, or worldly 
wisdom, pervaded the communities in which they were reared, and as a class 
they imbibed its principles and were intent upon its teachings. Faithfulness 
forbids the conveyance of the impression that they rose to manhood perfect 
models of all that is "lovely and of good report ;" or that there were no in- 
stances of obliquity to cause deep humiliation and life-long regret. And yet 
it may be truthfully recorded that, with their early surroundings, habits were 
formed, principles established, and conservative influences diffused, which 
have not ceased, and which, it is hoped, will never cease, to bear fruits of 
righteousness; that much of our attachment to social order, virtue, and 
piety, and of our aversion to their opposites, is traceable to our Puritan 
ancestry in happy New England. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUE.HANNA COUNTY. 263 

The first settlers in old Lawsville came from Connecticut, 
crossing the Hudson to Catskill, thence to the head of the Del- 
aware River near Harpersfield, New York ; thence to the valley 
of the Susquehanna at Wattles' Ferry, a point at the north end 
of Unadilla village; thence down the Susquehanna to Great 
Bend ; the whole distance being nearly 250 miles, and much of 
it, west of the Hudson, a wilderness, through which their effects 
could be transported only by packs, or on an ox sled. From 
Great Bend they found their way to Franklin by marked trees 
and the compass, camping out on their arrival until rude cabins 
could be erected. 

In the spring of 1797, James Clark made the first clearing in 
Lawsville, on the farm now owned and occupied by Billosty 
Smith. 

In September of the same year, Rufus Lines and Titus Smith 
together left Cheshire, Connecticut, and by the route we have 
described reached Great Bend, where they learned that four 
other men from Connecticut had just passed through the 
place, and were engaged in cutting a road through the forest to 
Lawsville. Hastening forward, they joined the party — Messrs. 
Clark, Bronson, demons, and Buell ; and added their efforts 
to expedite the undertaking, arriving at their destination, 
September 27th, the day Titus Smith completed his eighteenth 
year. Mr. L. was married and had several children, and was 
impelled to seek a home in a new country, that he might ac- 
quire more land than he could in his native place. 

At this time they were only exploring, and soon went back 
to Great Bend. A few days later, Mr. Smith returned to his 
chopping, opposite the place now the property of Mr. Read, 
which Mr. L. had selected, and where he spent the rest of his 
life. All returned to Connecticut for the succeeding winter. 

Mr. Buell began his clearing near Wylie Creek, quite in the 
eastern part of the town. He afterwards removed to New Mil- 
ford, where he died. 

In February, 1798, Titus Smith was again on the ground 
accompanied by an elder brother, Bphraim. They came in with 
a sled and oxen, bringing provisions and a few utensils. The 
sled, covered with boughs, was made to serve them for a shelter 
for a long time, and additional supplies were procured from 
Chenango Paint (Binghamton) and Ochquago, until they raised 
their own. 

Three other settlers had reached Great Bend in advance of 
them in February : David Barnum and his wife, and his brother 
Stephen, then unmarried. They emigrated from Vermont. Mr. 
Barnum purchased the lot which Titus Smith had begun to 
clear the preceding fall. Mr. Smith commenced anew on the 



264 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

farm which he continued to cultivate and reside upon until old 
age ; a paralytic shock disabled him a few years before his 
death. 

Ephraim Smith selected the lot which joined that of Eufus 
Lines on the south, and there spent the remainder of his days. 
It is now owned and occupied by Mr. Seamons. 

In the fall of 1798 Mr. Clark moved in his family, and now 
Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Barnum were the only women in the set- 
tlement. The Smith brothers returned to Connecticut for the 
winter. In 1799 Ephraim brought his family. 

The year 1800 more than doubled the number of families 
here, and brought Friend and David Tuttle, young unmarried 
men. The added households were those of Eufus Lines, Titus 
Smith, Nathan Buell, and Theophilus Merrirnan ; all from 
Connecticut. This date also marks the arrival of the first per- 
manent settler in the north part of Lawsville. (See Liberty.) 

During the next five years, 1800-1805, Eoswell Smith, Josiah 
Churchell, Ealph Lines, Samuel Chalker, Edward Cox, Asa 
Cornwell, Enos Tuttle, and Daniel Chalker, with families ; and 
three Smith brothers, without families, were added to the set- 
tlement in the south part (Franklin). The Chalkers remained 
but a few years in the south part, and then removed to the 
north part (Liberty). Edward Cox removed early to Choconut. 

Eaymond Smith, one of the unmarried brothers, came in 1803, 
and began a clearing in the east part of the town, on the farm now 
occupied by Harry Smith. Lodging at the house of his brother 
Titus, each morning found him crossing the hills nearly two 
miles through the woods to his work, carrying his dinner ; and 
each evening, returning with the pleasant consciousness of hav- 
ing made good progress in his difficult undertaking. As soon 
as he had made a sufficient clearing, he built a log-cabin, and, 
towards the last of the summer he boarded himself, having 
bought a cow and raised a patch of potatoes. He subsisted for 
six weeks entirely on potatoes and milk. 

He afterwards sold his improvement here to his brother Eos- 
well, and began anew on the farm adjoining on the north. 

These two brothers married sisters (step-daughters of John 
Hawley) and side by side they spent the remainder of their 
lives. All lived to be over eighty, and their united ages were 
three hundred and thirty-four years. The wife *of Eaymond 
Smith, widely known as "Aunt Eoxy," died in 1868, and was 
mourned, as a " mother in Israel," by the communit} r . A year 
and a half later, February 14, 1870, Eaymond, the last survi- 
vor of the pioneers of Franklin, died in his eighty-ninth year. 
"He was endowed with a fine constitution, a well-balanced 
mind, and cheerful disposition, which he maintained by tem- 
perate habits and pure morals. His large, well-proportioned 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 265 

frame was little bent, and his mind little impaired, by age." Of 
his four children, only one, Mrs. Garry Law, is living. 

Before the close of the last century, mills had been erected 
in Great Bend where M'Kinney's mills now are, and there the 
Lawsville people could usually have their grinding and sawing 
done; but, in dry seasons, they were sometimes obliged to go to 
Windsor for their grinding, or later, to Lathrop's Lake in 
Dimock. 

In 1802 or 1803 Mr. Bound, one of the landholders, erected 
a saw-mill, under the superintendence of Mr. Obed Doolittle, 
on Wylie Creek, in the eastern part of Lawsville; but it did 
not work well, and after a short trial was abandoned. Unprofi- 
table to its owner, it was yet some help to the settlers in con- 
verting a few of their hemlock logs into slabs and boards, so 
much needed in the construction of their rude barns and houses. 

About this time, or possibly a little prior to it, Captain David 
Summers, a man of business enterprise, with several sons to 
assist him, erected a grist-mill in that part of New Milfordnow 
known by his name ; but the site was not well chosen, or other 
arrangements may have been faulty; and the benefits of this 
mill, also, were shared by the inhabitants, while proving unre- 
munerative to the builder. 

The first marriage in the settlement took place May 21, 1804 
— the parties being Friend Tuttle, a native of Cheshire, Con- 
necticut, and Eunice, daughter of Rufus and Tamar Lines. Mr. 
T died December 19, 1820, aged thirty-nine. Mrs T. was left 
with eight children. She died August 13, 1869, in her eighty- 
fifth year. 

Anson Smith, one of the seven brothers who settled in Frank- 
lin, was at work in 1805, on the farm where Charles Lawson 
now lives, when, by the fall of a limb of a tree into which he 
was chopping, as is supposed, his skull was fractured. Miss 
Polly Lord (afterwards Mrs. Dr. Fraser) found him lying help- 
less by the road, procured assistance, and he was taken to the 
house" of his brother Titus, near by. A skilful physician was 
indispensable, and his brother Raymond set out at once by a 
bridle-path and marked trees for Dr. Baker, at the Forks of the 
Wyalusing. On hearing the case, Dr. B. advised him to consult 
Dr. Hopkins, of Tioga Point. He then retraced his steps, went 
down the valley of the Susquehanna forty or fifty miles, and 
returned with Dr. Hopkins. It was then at least three days 
after the injury was received; the case was considered hope- 
less, and the Dr. would not repeat his visit unless sent for. The 
sufferer lived nine weeks, and his brother went three times for 
the doctor, each trip requiring three days. Anson was twenty- 
two years of age and unmarried. The Rev. Seth Williston, a 
missionary, visited him. The presence of a minister was then a 



266 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

rare event and highly prized. Upon the death of Mr. Smith, 
the ground for a cemetery was selected, and his burial was the 
first in the cemetery as well as in the township. The purchase 
was made from the adjoining farms of Rufus Lines and Ephraim 
Smith. In that sacred inclosure nearly all the first settlers of 
the place now rest. 

Lyman, the youngest of the Smith brothers, was a minor when 
he came here. He was then under the guardianship of his 
eldest brother, Roswell. When he reached his majority he 
settled on a farm in Franklin, having married a daughter of 
Capt. Ichabod Buck, of Great Bend, and sister of his brother 
Ephraim's second wife. In 1820, Lyman became an active 
and useful member of the Congregational church, and, within 
a few years after it became Presbyterian, he was elected an 
elder. In 1849, he removed to Binghamton, New York, and 
united with a Presbyterian church there, his life corresponding 
with his Christian profession, until its close in his seventy-fifth 
year. With the exception of Anson, he was the only one of 
the seven who did not live to be over eighty years old. 

The settlement did not increase rapidly. The new-comers to 
the south part from 1805 to 1810, were Josiah Davis, Aaron 
Yan Yoorst, Simon Park, Calvin and Luther Peck and their 
father; in 1810, Wright Green and James Watson, from Ire- 
land, and Andrew Leighton, from Scotland. The last named 
brought in a small assortment of merchandise and established 
the first store in a log house near the old well on the present 
farm of P. T. Dearborn. 

Simon Park moved his family into Lawsville in 1809. In 
his youth he had emigrated from Plainfield, Connecticut, to 
Kingston, in 'Wyoming Yalle}*-, where he settled on a tract of 
land owned by his father; from thence, in 1804, he went to 
Windsor, New York, moving his family and effects up the river 
on a flat boat. Soon after becoming settled in L., he built a 
saw-mill on Wylie Creek, thirty or forty rods below the place 
now occupied by Tingley's saw-mill. This he kept running 
several years, but, like the other mills mentioned, it served the 
people better than it did the owner, and was finally left to 
decay. 

In 1811, Leman Churchell, Chauncey Turner, and James 
Yance (then from Harmony), settled in what is now Franklin. 

The line between Franklin and Liberty was run a little lower 
than appears on the large county map, and included Mr. Yance 
in Liberty ; but the court granted a petition from himself and 
next neighbor which assigned them to Franklin. 

Boards were then not so easily obtained as to allow Mr. Y. 
gable ends to his cabin for a long while after he entered it. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 267 

During the next four years — 1811-1815 — Charles Blowers, 
Julius Jones, Harrison Warner, and some others came in. 

From 1815 to 1820, Calvin Wheaton, Allen Upson, Jacob 
Allard, Joel Morse, Ira Cole, Joseph H. Holley, John Blowers, 
James Owens, William Salmon, and theWebsters came (1818). 
Joseph Webster, Sr., and his son John, a Baptist minister, 
located in Franklin, but others of the family in Liberty. 

Some of the earliest settlers remained but a short time. David 
Barnum left prior to 1805, and became a popular hotel-keeper 
at Baltimore, Maryland. 

Charles Miner, in his letter read at the Pioneer Festival held 
at Montrose, June 2, 1858, said : — 

"Barnum, of Lawsville, had married a sister of Colonel Kirby (about that 
time one of the candidates for Governor of Connecticut), a very superior 
woman independent of her relationship. The Yankee girls of the best fami- 
lies readily accepted the invitations of clever, enterprising young men, though 
poor, to try their fortunes in subduing the wilderness." 

The same authority states that " Barnum" was landlord in 
Lawsville in 1799. 

Stephen Barnum's place was further west and on another 
road. He sold it to a Mr. Townsend and sons, who are its pre- 
sent owners. He resided in the township nearly to the close 
of his life, but died in New Milford, at the residence of his 
son, E. Barnum, in January, 1859, at the age of eighty-two and 
a half years. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1836, 
but soon resigned. 

Though the principal occupation of the men of Franklin has 
always been that of agriculture, there have been a few devoted 
to other business. Eufus Lines was a blacksmith, Raymond 
Smith a shoemaker, Josiah Davis and S. Chalker stone-masons, 
and many chimneys built by them still remain. 

The number of expert hunters was small, but hunting and 
fishing were quite often pursued as a pastime, or to secure sup- 
plies for the table. 

The amusements were few and simple. It was customary in 
some families to promise them to the children as rewards for 
the faithful performance of required tasks; and thus the privi- 
lege of a fishing excursion was heightened by the conscious- 
ness of parental approbation, and enjoyed all the more for being 
paid for in advance. The season of berries was made subservient 
to relieve the monotony of work for both boys and girls. The 
most luscious raspberries and blackberries grew wherever they 
were allowed on the newly cleared land, and in the absence of 
cultivated fruit they were of great value. 

But sauntering in the wood, or gathering berries, had its 
drawbacks, for the jingle of the dreaded rattlesnake was 
often heard, causing a precipitate flight towards home ; but 



268 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

this was usually followed by a return to the scene of danger 
of some one who would give battle to the disturbing reptile, 
usually terminating in its destruction, and the conqueror coming 
in possession of its rattles. 

Young women of different families visited each other rarely 
more than once a year ; and then only in the most pleasant 
season, as it often required a walk of several miles. They in- 
variably took with them plain sewing or knitting which would 
not interrupt conversation on topics connected with their daily 
occupations, which were those most frequently discussed. The 
making up of plain clothes for themselves or the family; the 
knitting of socks, stockings, and mittens ; the bleaching of 
home-made linen, etc. etc., were to them objects of ambition 
only inferior to their spinning! Proof of skill and industry 
in this was seen hanging against the walls in bunches of yarn, 
linen, tow, or woolen, according to the season. Woolen and 
linen were the only sheeting used. Occasionally "a quilting" 
afforded the girls a fine opportunity for social enjoyment. And, 
in winter, it was customary for boys and girls to go together 
on evening visits to friends several miles distant, and for lodg- 
ing, to distribute themselves among the different families of the 
neighborhood, who were always ready to accommodate them 
and make the party happy. 

Trainings or military parades were great occasions for the 
boys. They furnished holidays for them twice in a year — the 
first Monday in May, and another Monday in autumn. For a 
general training two days were sometimes necessary. When 
the parades were at Great Bend, none but the larger boys 
could go; but it was all the more desirable to them to go so far, 
and to so grand a place as Great Bend, where there were frame- 
houses and a store ; the latter, and perhaps a few of the former, 
being also painted. 

They were permitted to don their best suits and start early, 
with "change" in their pockets to buy gingerbread, and perhaps 
" a drink ;" if the latter was not thus provided for, it may safely 
be presumed their fathers " treated" them to one or more during 
the day, for moderate drinking was then thought a very inno- 
cent, if not a very necessary, indulgence. 

Early in the present century, and before the settlers could 
raise enough grain for their support from one season to the 
next, they were sometimes threatened with a short allowance 
of the necessaries of life. It is said that such was the scarcity 
of provisions in the spring of 1799, that the new settlers had 
to dig up and eat the potatoes they had planted. The few in- 
habitants of the surrounding towns could do little more than 
supply their own wants. 

Great efforts were made to procure even very limited sup- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 269 

plies. At one time Mrs. Merriman went twenty miles to get 
as many potatoes as she could bring on the back of the horse 
she rode; and this, over roads which we should call terrible — 
being full of knolls, stumps, roots, stones, and mud-holes, with 
the Susquehanna River to be crossed by fording! 

The women of those days could dare and do as necessity 
demanded. Perhaps they had no sterner trial than to be with- 
out a suitable attendant at the birth of their children. Mrs. 
Mercy Tyler, of Harford (afterwards of Ararat), was indeed an 
angel of mercy to many an isolated mother ; but distance 
sometimes made her inaccessible. " Whether the call came by 
day or by night, Mrs. T. attired herself suitably to mount her 
horse astride; and her guide needed not to 'slack his riding' 
for her sake." 

RELIGIOUS. 

It is said that in the "Lawsville settlement" the Sabbath 
was observed from the first. With Saturday night secular 
labor ceased, and quiet reigned throughout the forest-homes. 

The influence of early training, example, and habit preserved 
the people from open desecration of a day which they had 
been taught to regard as sacred, though they were far removed 
from those religious privileges and associations which had at- 
tended their childhood and youth. 

Most of them were from Cheshire, New Haven County, Con- 
necticut, where no deep religious interest is known to have 
been felt until many years after the period under consideration. 
This may in a measure account for the fact that, notwithstand- 
ing these privileges, few of them had made an experimental 
acquaintance with religion at the time of their emigration ; 
but they erected and maintained a high standard of public 
morals. Mrs. Tamai» Lines and Mrs. Sarah Merriman were the 
first, and for five years the only, professors of religion in the 
place. Their piety, though unobtrusive, was decided, and in 
after years they were referred to as almost faultless examples 
of Christian character. Mrs. M. died in 1835, aged sixty-six ; 
Mrs. L. in 1843 l aged eighty. But their memory has not 
perished, nor has their influence ceased to be felt. Of their 
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, it may be said 
that some of them, we have good reason to believe, have 
"fallen asleep in Jesus;" some are useful citizens and active 
Christians of Franklin and other townships of this and a neigh- 
boring county ; and others of them, sustaining the same cha- 
racter, are scattered in several distant States. Captain Roswell 
Smith was the first male professor of religion who settled here. 
He remained at the old homestead in Connecticut a number of 



270 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

years after the others had left it — all but the youngest, to whom 
he was guardian. He came with his wife and five children, 1 
near the end of winter, in 1805. Their library consisted of 
three Bibles, a copy of ' Watts's Psalms and Hymns,' a Metho- 
dist hymn-book, the ' Assembly's Shorter Catechism,' ' Jenks's 
Devotion,' and the 'Book of Common Prayer;' with one or 
two spelling-books. 

[After a time, 'Miner's Gleaner' was taken by Capt. Smith, 
and a small circulating library was obtained for New Milford 
and Laws vi lie, John Hawley, librarian.] 

Religious worship commenced soon after the first settlement 
of the town. As early as 1801 or 1802 missionaries came here 
from Connecticut and Massachusetts, and meetings were held 
at Mr. Theophilus Merriman's and other private houses, until 
the old South school-house was built, and then meetings were 
held there. About 1808-1809, meetings were held by Deacon 
Ward at Benjamin Doolittle's, in New Milford, and at Deacon 
Titus Smith's, in Lawsville (Franklin), every alternate Sabbath. 

The organization of the New Milford and Lawsville " Union 
Congregational Church" took place at the house of John Haw- 
ley, in New Milford, the 28th day of September, 1813, the Rev. 
Bbenezer Kingsbury, missionary from Connecticut, and the 
Rev. Joseph Wood, pastor of the first church in Bridgewater, 
officiating. 

The following persons composed the church when organized : 
Ichabod and Mary Ward, Roswell and Hannah Smith, Titus 
Smith, Sally (Mrs. Ephraim) Smith, 2 Friend Tuttle, Lucretia 
Truesdell, Hannah Doolittle, Sybil Dayton, Phebe and Merab 
Hawley. Circumstances deferred Mrs. Lines' and Mrs. Merri- 
man's connection with this church until February, 1814. 

Rev. Bbenezer Kingsbury was chosen standing moderator of 
the church, Ichabod Ward was chosen, deacon, and Friend 
Tuttle. scribe. Of the first twelve members not one is now 
living, though nine of them lived to be over eighty years, and 
three over ninety years of age. Meetings for public worship 
were kept up by the church until 1814, when the Rev. Oliver 
Hill, missionary from Connecticut, was unanimously called to 
be their pastor. He accepted the call, and oh the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, same year, the Luzerne association met at the house of 
Ephraim Smith to examine Mr. Hill as a candidate for the min- 
istry. On the 16th his ordination took place in Mr. E. Smith's 

1 These had lost their own mother. Three weeks after their arrival in Laws- 
ville, a daughter was added to the family— the same to whom we are indebted 
for much of the information contained in this chapter. At the time of Captain 
Smith's death, lie had five sons and six daughters, who were married and had 
families. 

2 Of her it was written, " She lived to the glory of God." She died in 1849. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 271 

barn. Mr. Hill continued his ministrations in Lawsville and 
New Milford, dividing his time equally between the two places, 
until May 25, 1819. (He afterwards went to Michigan, and 
died there December, 1844, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.) 

Mrs. Park, in a sketch of her father and mother, Captain Eos- 
well Smith and his second wife, says of them : — 

"They hailed with joy the coming of missionaries, entertained them at their 
house, sent notices through the settlement where they would preach, and 
always attended religious worship with as many of the family as circum- 
stances would permit. When meetings were within two miles all could go. 
The older children could walk ; father rode on one horse with a child before 
him ; mother on another, with a babe in her lap. In addition, when neces- 
sary, they could take one of the older daughters upon a pillion behind them 
on the same horse. From the place now called Brookdale, in Liberty, to 
New Milford Valley there were persons who were habituated to public wor- 
ship, and many log dwellings between these points were, at different times, 
crowded for that purpose. People sometimes went to Harford and to Great 
Bend to hear missionaries, and it was not uncommon when we had preaching 
to see people from those places in our congregation." 

Mrs. Park's descriptions are doubled in value by their uni- 
versal application. She adds: — 

" There were two services on each Sabbath, with an intermission of an 
hour, or (in winter) of half an hour. During this time the people remained 
in and around the house where the meeting was held, separately eating a 
lunch brought from home, or engaging in such conversation as was thought 
to befit the occasion. All common secular talk was considered a desecra- 
tion of the day, and children of religious families were strictly charged to be 
very circumspect in this particular. 

"When no minister was present our public worship was conducted by Dea- 
con Ward, of New Milford, who was a good singer and reader ; but Mr. 
John Foot usually led the singing, and sometimes he or Mr. B. Doolittle read 
the sermon." 

The church has maintained public worship to the present 
time, the pulpit being supplied by different ministers; and from 
time to time large additions have been added to their member- 
ship. 

Two churches, one in New Milford and the other in Liberty, 
have been organized with members who belonged originally to 
the " Union" church. 

During Mr. Hill's ministry, the South school-house was the 
established place of worship'. At that time there were no Sab- 
bath-schools, but Mr. Hill took great pains in the religious 
instruction of the young, giving them lessons to commit, and 
meeting them at appointed times to hear their recitations, to 
explain to them the word of God, and to pray with them. He 
preached but one-half the time in Lawsville, one-fourth in New 
Milford, and the remaining fourth he was employed as a mis- 
sionary to labor in more destitute places around. In his absence 
the three resident church members were pursuaded to conduct 
regular public worship. There had been a season of unusual 



272 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

religious interest in this region a number of years before a 
church was organized. At that time Titus Smith and Friend 
Tattle were converted, and the number of family altars in Laws- 
ville was then increased to three. Other individuals on joining 
the church, years afterwards, dated their first serious impres- 
sions from that period. In 1818 there was another revival of 
religion, and on the 9th of August fourteen members were 
added to the church. The school-house was too small for the 
occasion, and the meeting was held in Ephraim Smith's barn. 
In the summer of 1820 there was another revival, which 
extended, as the former did not, beyond the present limits of 
Franklin, to nearly if not quite all those families in the north- 
ern part of Lawsville, which were regular attendants on public 
worship. 

Eev. Lyman Eichardson, of Harford, about this time licensed 
to preach the gospel, labored in Lawsville with great faithful- 
ness and success. Intent only on serving his Master, he left his 
pecuniary reward to be measured by the ability and generosity 
of the people. In the September following about thirty were 
added to the church, of various ages, from the gray-haired man 
to the little girl of ten years. Mr. E. left soon after to labor 
in Wysox. In 1821 Eev. Enoch Conger, employed by the Sus- 
quehanna County Domestic Missionary Society, visited the 
church at different times, and formed the first Sabbath-school 
in Lawsville. During the succeeding two years he was hired 
to preach there one-half the time, and for the better accommo- 
dation of all who attended on his ministry, he preached alter- 
nately at the three school-houses — north, south, and east; but 
the Sabbath-school was held every Sabbath at each of the 
school-houses. In the autumn of 1824 Mr. C. removed to Ohio. 
His youngest child at that time was Williston Kingsbury, after- 
wards Lieutenant Conger, of the company that arrested Wilkes 
Booth. Eev. Enoch C. died at the West in the spring of 1872. 

The first church edifice in Franklin was erected on Cemetery 
Hill in 1824. Its cost was about $1100. In 1816 it was repaired 
and greatly improved at an expense of $400, and in 1866 the 
old building having been removed, a neat and commodious one 
took its place, costing something over $3000. 

In 1836, the church changed its form of government to Pres- 
byterian. Five elders were chosen, among whom were Eoswell, 
and Dea. Titus Smith. Friend Tuttle, who once shared with 
them the principal care of the church, had died in 1822, leav- 
ing a whole community to mourn his loss. He was eminently 
a peacemaker. 

The first parsonage built was erected in 1849. (Eev. Mr. 
Hill had bought a few acres of land, and built a frame dwelling 
house and barn prior to 1820 ; and as late as 1867, this first 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 273 

parsonage of Franklin might have been seen a few rods east of 
the Upsonville Exchange, but it has since been demolished.) 
This was destroyed by fire, May 22d, 1858 ; but on account of 
the terrible affliction that accompanied it, the loss was scarcely 
felt. It was late on Saturday night when the building was 
discovered to be on fire. The family were roused from sleep, 
and the pastor, Rev. Joseph Barlow, under the bewildering ex- 
citement of the moment, as is supposed, attempted to enter the 
room where the fire was raging. As he opened the door, the 
flames burst out upon him, suffocating him, and causing death 
before he could be reached. His body was nearly consumed. 

Mr. Barlow was born near Manchester, England, in April, 
1787. He was converted early in life, and entered the ministry 
in the Methodist connection before he attained his twenty-first 
year. He emigrated to this country in 1819, united with the 
Presbyterian church in 1835, and became connected with the 
Montrose Presbytery the same year. 

A larger and more convenient parsonage was completed in 
1860, on the site of the former, a few rods south of the church. 

The Methodists have a neat church edifice at the Forks, 
erected at a cost of $4000. There is also a Baptist church in 
the same neighborhood. 

A temperance society and a tract society were formed in 
Lawsville at an early day. 

At present there is no licensed retailing of ardent spirits; 
hence intoxication, pauperism, and crime are but little known 
in the community. 

The first school-house — a log structure — was erected in 1806, 
on the farm Sylvester Smith formerly owned, and near where 
Stiles Jacobus lives. The first teacher was Esther Buck (after- 
wards Mrs. James Newman of Great Bend); the second was 
Polly Bates (Mrs. Sylvester Smith); the third, Penila Bates 
(Mrs. Seth Hall), both daughters of Thomas Bates of Great 
Bend. Anna Buck and Selina Badger were later teachers. It 
is not known that there was any winter school till about 1809, 
when Dr. Gray, a transient settler, was employed to teach— he 
and his wife living in the school-house at the same time. James 
De Haert taught there the next winter. (He died at the house 
of Rufus Lines in 1813.) It is thought Leman Churchell 
taught during the winter of 1810-11 the last school in the 
building. Mr. C. was a Methodist exhorter, and held regular 
meetings in school-houses at an early day. 

The old school-house was built in 1811 or '12. It stood 
nearly forty years, and was then accidentally burned. A better 
one was soon built near its site. The first building called the 
East school-house, was erected in 1818; but a better one has 
for many years stood in its place. In 1819, the North school- 
18 



J 



274 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

house was set a little north of Upsonville ; later at this place, 
and was afterwards removed to make room for the brick school- 
house which is still standing. Lucy Upson (Mrs. S. W. Trues- 
dell) taught the first two seasons. Farther west, the Allard and 
Baker school-houses were in one neighborhood. 

The first post-office in Lawsville was established in 1811, and 
Richard Barnum (brother of Stephen) was the first postmaster. 
The office was kept on the same ground nearly fifty years. It 
has since been removed to a store called " Upsonville Exchange," 
a short distance above, and is kept by J. L. Merriman. After 
the town of Franklin was erected, some confusion in mail mat- 
ters was occasioned from the fact that there are other towns of 
that name in the State ; and consequently the name of Upson- 
ville was given to the post-office, in honor of Allen Upson, 
then P. M. The name attaches to the neighborhood. Freder- 
ick Lines was the first P. M. appointed in Franklin after the 
division of Lawsville; he resigned the office on becoming jus- 
tice of the peace. 

In Franklin, August 18, 1846, four generations mowed to- 
gether: Charles Blowers, aged eighty-six; John Blowers, 
sixty-three ; Daniel C. Blowers, thirty-eight ; and Albert 
Blowers, fourteen. The first named was a native of Dutchess 
County, New York. He lived to see the fifth generation, and 
died at the age of ninety-one, in Franklin. 

Franklin Forks, at the junction of Silver and Snake Creeks, 
besides its churches, has two stores, two saw-mills, a blacksmith 
shop, a school-house, and a post-office. 

" Mungerville is situated in the Snake Creek Valley, three miles north of 
Montrose, on the direct road to Binghamton. It contains about 100 inhab- 
itants, has a large tannery, saw-mill, store, school-house, and a number of 
good dwelling-houses. It has no post-office. 

" J. H. & E. P. Munger, during the past year, have tanned 27,860 sides 
of sole leather, which is 1000 more than was ever tanned here before, in a 
year. They give constant employment to about twenty-five men, and con- 
sume about 3000 cords of bark annually, for which they pay cash, at a good 
price, making employment for many in the surrounding country. They have 
lately fitted up a store. 

" L'. Foot, having purchased the saw-mill formerly owned by A. Lathrop, 
has taken out the muley, and put in a circular saw, and now cuts from four 
to five thousand feet of lumber a day, with a full head of water." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 275 



CHAPTER XX. 

LIBERTY. 

Prior to the erection of the township of Franklin, the most 
of its area, together with the whole of Liberty, was included in 
" Old Lawsville" — the third township set off by the court of 
Luzerne between 1790-1800, from the territory now included 
in Susquehanna County. But, though with Franklin the older 
settled portion of Lawsville had been taken away, the prestige 
of the old name was left to the remainder or north part ; and 
"the more'sthe pity," it should have been so undervalued as to 
be exchanged less than a year later (September, 1836) for that 
of Liberty. Its area is about four and a half miles by six. 

Most of what has been already written respecting the surface 
and productions of Lawsville, applies equally well to the north 
as to the south part of the township. Corn is the best crop, but 
rye is good. Corn is solid ; weighs over sixty pounds to the 
bushel. 

The most profitable business for the farmer in this section is 
the same as that in so many other townships — the making of 
butter. Sheep are kept in considerable numbers. 

Next in importance to Snake Creek is Ranney Creek, which 
rises near the Catholic church, in the township of Silver Lake, 
and running northeast, crosses nearly three-fourths of the 
width of Liberty, and empties into Snake Creek at Brookdale. 
Still another stream rises in the former township between "Der- 
went" and Cranberry Lakes, which joins the outlet of Mud 
Lake, and pursuing an easterly course empties into Snake 
Creek at Lawsville Center. Both these creeks afford fine mill 
privileges. Bailey Brook has a short course near the center of 
the township, while Wylie Creek forms its southeastern 
boundary for about a mile and a half. 

Tripp Lake, a small sheet in the western part of Liberty, has 
an outlet also emptying into Snake Creek, near the "Pleasant 
Valley House" of B. Jones, Esq. 

The early settlers appear to have been men of great physical 
endurance and firmness of mind; prudent, counting the cost, 
and ascertaining if the work to be accomplished was within the 
compass of their means ; their plans once matured, they were 
pursued with unflinching determination. They were generally 
persons of very limited means, and were obliged to sustain 



276 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

themselves by their own energy and industry. Several were 
in their minority when they settled there. 

The township had for its first resident the Hon. Timothy 
Pickering, of Eevolutionary fame. It is known that late in the 
last century he found his way into the valley of the Snake 
Creek and built a cabin on land now in Liberty and owned by 
Garry Law, Esq. He made a clearing and remained a year or 
two. Either before or soon after this, he became a large land- 
holder in this and other townships of the county. About the 
same time, Stephen Ranney, of Litchfield, Connecticut, made a 
small clearing on the farm now owned by Perry B. Butts. He 
spent one or two years here and then left; but Eanney Creek 
perpetuates his name [written Rhiney on the atlas]. 

A man named Bronson, also from Litchfield, Connecticut, 
made a clearing on what has been long known as the Ives farm. 
A Mr. Clemons (Philo?) made a small clearing near Calvin 
Markham's place, but soon left. 

The first actual settler with a family, was Samuel Woodcock, 
another Litchfield County man ; his location was near where 
the saw-mill of Alanson Chalker now stands, about half a mile 
from the State line. This was in 1799 [one authority makes 
it 1800]. Mr. W. superintended the building of a saw-mill 
and grist-mill for Robert Bound, a large landowner in the 
township. 

In 1800, Joseph and Ira Bishop, both young men without 
families came in. Joseph settled where Knight and Munson's 
tannery stands in Brookdale, and his farm contained about 100 
acres. Ira settled on what was afterwards known as the Hance 
farm. 

In 1805, Waples Hance moved in and purchased the above 
farm and lived there until his death in December, 1843, at the 
age of ninety years. 

No further mention is made of any settlement of this part of 
Lawsville until 1811, when John Holmes, Edward Hazard, 
Peleg Butts, Jonathan and Jesse Ross, Caswell and Nathaniel 
Ives settled on the creek in the north part of the township. 
The Rosses were on the farm now owned by E. Lockwood and 
C. Markham. 

Peleg Butts was previously in Silver Lake. He lived to be 
eighty years old, and died on the farm now occupied by his 
sons Abraham and Isaac, very near the State line in Liberty. 

Samuel Truesdell and sons, in 1811, located southeast of 
Lawsville Center, on the farm lately occupied by one of them, 
S. W. Truesdell, Esq. The latter was a justice of the peace for 
the township twenty years; he died October, 1872, aged 
seventy-three. He furnished many items for these pages. 

Within the next four years, Israel Richardson (1812), Asa 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 277 

Bermet, Joseph Hutchinson (1812), Jedediah Adams (from Great 
Bend), the family of Caswell Ives (Reuben then a boy), Dr. 
Stanford, Benajah Howard, Ebenezer Allen, David Bailey, and 
some others came in. Asa Bennet settled where I. Comstock 
recently lived. Ebenezer Allen settled on the place now occu- 
pied by Daniel Adams. 

David Bailey came from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He 
died in Liberty about the year 1844. His widow (Mary) died 
in 1868, aged eighty. Their descendants number about one 
hundred. The historian of the Abington Baptist Association, 
Rev. E. L. Bailey, was their son. He was three years chaplain 
to the Senate at Harrisburg, and subsequently became pastor 
of the Baptist church in Carbondale, where he died in 1870. 

Rev. H. C. Hazard, now sixty-five years of age, gave in 1870, 
the following items respecting his father, Edward Hazard: — 

" Fifty-eight years ago last March, my father, with his family, moved from 
Otsego County, N. Y., down the Susquehanna River to where Windsor 
Village now stands, and over the Oghquago Mountains to Great Bend, via 
Taylortown ; crossed the river in a scow, thence down the south side of the 
river to the mouth of Snake Creek, and up the creek two miles, where he 
located in an almost unbroken wilderness. The wolves were our nearest 
neighbors, especially at night. I saw one in the daytime within ten rods of 
the house, where a beef had been dressed the day before. My father used 
to kill as many as forty deer in a year ; the hides furnished clothing and the 
carcasses meat. 

There was not a school-house from Binghamton to Montrose, and a 
meeting-house I had never seen. The first school-house was built where is 
now Brookdale, on Snake Creek, at my father's instigation ; and he, being a 
carpenter and joiner, built the house, and afterwards taught the first school. 
I went to Binghamton to the grist-mill with my father in a canoe, some 
fifty years ago, when it was a wilderness where half or two-thirds of the city 
now stands; however, we usually got our grinding done at Josiah Stewart's, 
where McKinney's mill now stands. Great Bend was our point of trade." 

In 1813, George Banker came from the south part of Laws- 
ville, where he located three years earlier. 

In 1815, Daniel Marvin came to the place previously occupied 
by Joseph Hutchinson. 

Jonathan Howard came from Dutchess County, N. Y., in 
1817, and remained in Liberty until his death, in 1869, at the 
age of eighty-eight. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. 

Archi Marsh came from Connecticut on foot, in the fall of 
1817; he was accompanied by S. W. Truesdell, who was 
returning from a visit to his native place. 

Stephen Dawley, a son- in-law of Joseph Webster, Senior, ac- 
companied the latter, when he came to Lawsville, in February, 
1818; but Mr. D. located in the north part, now Liberty. They 
were sixteen days on the journey from Connecticut, with two 
yoke of oxen, the weather being very cold. 

Though Joseph Webster and his son John were permanent 



v 



278 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

residents of Franklin, his son Alexander and family located in 
Liberty, and James and Joseph, Jr., came here afterwards. 

Previous to 1820, Constantine Choate, Chauncey North, Au- 
relius Stevens, John Morse, and Peter Gunsalus were here. 
The last named had been in Franklin. David 0. Turrell came 
in 1820 ; Roger Kenyon, Senior, in 1822, and Garry Law in 
1826. 

In 1820, with the exception of the clearings of Jonathan 
Howard and Peleg Butts, the country west of Snake Creek to 
Silver Lake was an unbroken wilderness. There was no sale 
of land on the Pickering tract, in Liberty, until after 1820, ex- 
cept in the valley of Snake Creek. (The population of Laws- 
ville, in 1820, was 466 — females a majority of 8.) 

Israel Richardson, a surveyor, originally from Windsor 
County, Vermont, came to Lawsville (Liberty), from Willing- 
borough (Great Bend). He had been a school-teacher at the 
latter place, where he had resided three or four years, and where 
he married Lucy Adams, a daughter of one of its first settlers. 
He kept a diary from which some extracts are taken, as illus- 
trative of the necessities and customs of the times. He raised 
his log house, near Snake Creek, on the 23d of March, 1812, 
and soon after brought to it " a back-load of goods." On the 
1st of April he occupied the house, "on the 13th put up the 
east gable end, laid some chamber-floor, and brought the table 
home on his back." On the 30th he " leveled the ground in 
the house." " Trainings" were important affairs in those 
troublous times; on the 20th of May, the second of the kind 
for that month, he " went to training out to Post's." (He does 
not speak of Montrose until eighteen months later.) 

On the 1st of June, " went to mill to Chenango Point — 
Bevier's — absent three days." In November of the same year 
he was engaged in clearing out " the old Bronson road" — a 
road of no small consequence to the early settlers; over it the 
mail was carried to Silver Lake to Great Bend, thence to Laws- 
ville, and back to Montrose, once a week. 

Late in November, " split sticks for chimney. Made a paper 
window in north side of the house." 

The first season he raised only one acre of green oats, and 
one hundred and seventy bushels of potatoes. In December, 
he hired out at twelve dollars per month, the usual rate when 
board was given. 

Early in 1813, while farm-work permitted, he, like most of 
the pioneers, " could turn his hand" to various occupations. 
" Made a pair of shoes in an evening." " Made swifts, warping- 
bars, and spool frame ;" for the wife of the pioneer could 
always spin, and generally weave. 

"Made twenty-four bass-wood sap troughs in a day." A 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 279 

little later, he adds: "Bass-wood troughs did leak — put ash- 
wood in their place." 

In the spring he was frequently engaged in surveying, in 
which he was quite often the companion of James De Haert, 
the brother of Balthasar, so long and favorably known in Sus- 
quehanna County. The brothers were long engaged in the 
effort to develop the resources of the Salt Spring on Silver 
Creek. 

Balthasar De Haert came to Chenango Point, or vicinity, 
about 1801. Had received the title of judge in New Jersey. 
James De H. had also some knowledge of law. Judge De H. 
was considered by Dr. Fraser, for whom he wrote many years 
while Dr. F. held county offices, as one of the most honorable 
and upright of men. 

Occasionally Mr. R. visited the fish ground, Susquehanna 
River, and in May, he mentions bringing home forty shad. 
He also found a "bee-tree," which was then a fortunate occur- 
rence, both on account of its ready store for honey, and because, 
with proper care, the bees could be hived for future service. 

In November of this year " gathered thorn-apples at Samuel 
Symmonds." 

Early in December the entry runs, "I and wife finished the 
chimney." From various narrators we learn that it was no un- 
common thing to pass months without any chimney — a hole in 
the roof serving as vent for the smoke of a fire built within a 
circle of large stones placed against the wall, or in the center 
of the cabin. 

It appears the culture of tobacco was attempted here as early 
as 1814, as Mr. R. mentions his tobacco plants in July; under 
date of Oct. 16th, writes, " I stript tobacco." 

The war then in progress between England and the United 
States made demands on the new settlements as well as the old, 
and, November 4th, Mr. R. was " notifyed to march a soldier- 
ing." A substitute was engaged for $50, but his own services 
were soon rendered, the famous Danville expedition starting 
and returning within the same month. 

During the year 1815 reference is made to the meeting held 
at Jos. Bishop's and in other private houses by " Priest Hill," 
and by the Baptist missionary, Elder Peter P. Roots. " Log- 
ging-bees " occasioned not only opportunities for mutual service 
among neighbors in clearing up their farms, but were merry- 
makings besides. All heavy work was done by " bees." There 
was of course little market for wood, consequently to free the 
land of it, it was rolled up in heaps after being felled and 
chopped into convenient lengths, and then burned. 

In January, 1816, Mr. R. " followed otters' tracks down as far 



280 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

as Simmons'." (Samuel Simmons settled where Charles Adams 
now resides.) 

The terrible cold summer of 1816 finds a comment in, "The 
chestnut, trees are full in the blow, the 10th day of August!" 

One Sabbath in 1817, "All go to hear Priest Gilbert at the 
old Bennett house." 

Every horse was then considered able to "carry double," and 
the " pillion" was the appendage of every saddle, when wheeled 
carriages were not to be thought of for family church-going. 

In July he "laid out the road from Vance's to South worth's," 
(then near Jones' Lake). 

Not far from this time the streams were suddenly swollen by 
heavy rains, and the bridge over the Snake Creek (near 
Bailey Brook ?) was carried off, a serious calamity to the then 
straitened resources of the township, and which was repaired 
only by help from the county. 

Very little cash found its way to the pockets of a people so 
far from markets for their produce; once in a while "a paper 
dollar" is seen, but spoken of as a curiosity. 

" S. B. Welton agrees to make 80 rods of good rail fence for 
a shilling a rod, of posts and rails, five feet high, hog tite." At 
this rate the workmen made about a dollar a day ; but it was 
common for a man to accept fifty cents for chopping or logging, 
" and found." Venison was from 2 to 3 cents per lb., pork 10 
cents, and milk 1 cent per qt. A note is made of the purchase 
of a partridge " for 10 cents in money down," but 12| cents 
were demanded for an orange. 

March 20th, 1818, "Town meeting held at Esq. Lines'." 

The months of July and August found Mr. E. chiefly engaged 
in surveying, and from his notes one must conclude no one was 
more familiar than he with the lands in Lawsville and on the 
" Wharton track," beyond, (?) and with all the roads in the 
vicinity. 

" September 24th I go to the Bend and see the elephant." 
Later, " Carry some cloth to Summers' fulling-mill to be dressed 
for me a coat and pantaloons." (Broad cloth coats were not 
often seen in farm-houses in 1818.) 

Thanksgiving-day was observed the 19th of November. A 
great wolf hunt is mentioned about this time. 

In June, 1819, the arrival of "Englishmen just from England" 
is noted — probably the founders of "Britannia" in Silver Lake. 

" Shot a deer just below the bridge :" " shot a fox ;" " shot a 
doe," and similar expressions occur occasionally in the memo- 
randa. 

The following item is truly worthy of preservation : " I let 
the post have $2.00 to pay the printer for a year's paper." 

An exchange of home productions accommodated the people; 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 281 

thus a bushel of apples was sometimes procured by a quantity 
of sage, etc. 

Late in that year he laid out "a road from the old river road 
near Cooper Corbett's to State line, near Peleg Butts." 

The first of January, 1820, Mr. R. began teaching a school 
near Alfred Ross', and which he continued six weeks at $10 
per month ! Sixty-three weeks' board for a man, and sixty-one 
for a woman, could then be obtained for $25 (without liquors, 
candles, or medicine). 

Dr. Rufus Fish was an early settler of Great Bend, but sub- 
sequently (about 1819) lived in Liberty, on the "Ranney Clear- 
ing," before mentioned. He moved back to Great Bend, then 
again to Liberty, on the farm where Philo C. Luce lives; and 
from there to the Salt Spring in Franklin, where he died. 

It is said the "Blue Laws" of Conn, were once in force in 
Liberty, and Sunday traveling, for ordinary purposes, was pro- 
hibited. A fine was laid upon the trangressor and allotted to 
the informer. One person who had made himself liable to the 
fine, promptly delivered himself up on Monday morning, and 
thus evaded paying the prosecutor's fee. 

In spite of all the pains-taking by the first settlers in watch- 
ing and guarding their sheep, on whose wool they so much 
depended for clothing, the wolves found ways to outwit them, 
sometimes destroying twenty of one flock in a single night, 
though they were yarded near the house. After a time the 
Legislature passed an act giving a bounty of ten dollars for the 
scalp of a full-sized wolf, and five dollars for a young one. 
This stimulated the trappers and hunters to renewed energy 
and perseverance. There were several brothers by the name 
of Brown living at Great Bend, who sometimes devoted several 
days to hunting in the vicinity of the Salt Spring, and with 
great success. 

One who was familiar with the sight of wolves speaks of 
them as " coarse, gray-haired, ugly looking things," and adds : — 

,; I wish I could describe their howl; but the best comparison I can give 
would be to take a dozen railroad whistles, braid them together, and then let 
one strand after another drop off, the last peal so frightfully piercing as to 
go through your very heart and soul; you would feel as though your hair 
stood straight on end if it was ever so long. 

"The bears would take young lambs, pigs, and sometimes large hogs ; and 
their embrace was fatal even to man. The flesh of the bear was considered 
good for food, something of the nature of pork, but more oily. The fat 
would never get hard like corn-fed pork, but was useful in many ways for 
cooking purposes, and also for light. For the latter purpose it was used by 
tying a penny in a white linen or cotton rag, and sinking it in a saucer of the 
oil, leaving the end a little above the surface to light. It would burn several 
hours and give a very good light. Pitch pine knots, split into small pieces, 
were used as a substitute for lamps and candles. 

" Deer were very plenty and mischievous. They were very fond of garden 



282 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

vegetables, beans in particular. Still they were a blessing rather than other- 
wise, for their meat was superior to that of any other wild animal ; and, at 
times, families have subsisted on venison alone for days together. Their 
skins when tanned were very valuable, and were used for gloves, mittens, 
moccasins, ' trowsers,' and whip lashes. From their horns knife and fork 
handles were manufactured." 

My informant continues thus : — 

" One day, more than forty years ago, an old doe and two fawns came into 
our clearing or house lot. There was no road past the house at that time. 
One of the fawns became separated from the others, and I ran after it, caught 
it, and held it fast. He was very easily tamed, and soon became the pet of 
all the children in the neighborhood. He would run, frolic, blow and snort 
like a young horse, but, like the rest of his species, he was ' a turncoat ' — first 
red spotted with white, then red entirely, and lastly had a coat of blue for 
the winter. 

" The red, black, and gray squirrels were another pest ; they were almost as 
thick as the frogs in Egypt. They would go into a field of grain, perch 
themselves on the charred stumps left in the clearing, quite near together, 
watch the wind and waves, and dexterously catch the heads of rye or wheat 
with their paws. They must have taken every tenth bushel. Then, when 
the grain was harvested and put in the barn, the rats would come in for their 
share. By stratagem, the children secured thirty large rats in a barrel, at 
one time, and drowned them in hot water. 

" But with all the drawbacks and discouragements of our position, we still 
went ahead, though many of us had little more than willing hearts and hands 
with which to battle. Work was the order of the day. It was work on, work 
ever; hope on, and hope ever; and the sound of the ax, and the crash of the 
falling trees might be heard on every side. 

"Mother and daughter considered it no disparagement or hardship to spin 
and work up into cloth all the flax and wool we could get, and the buzzing 
of the spinning wheel and the rattle of the loom might be heard in almost 
every house. Our labors were crowned with success, in-doors and out; and, 
after a few years, framed houses and barns took the place of log ones, and 
everything had the appearance of thrift, comfort, and convenience." 

The post-office at Lavvsville Center was established in 1830, 
and another at Brookdale about fourteen years ago. At the 
latter place there is a tannery, owned by Munson and Knight, 
consuming 3000 cords of bark annually. There is an establish- 
ment near there, styled the "Scotch Works," which uses 4000 
cords of wood annually, in the manufacture, principally, of an 
acid used in setting the colors of prints. The sales are in New 
York city. The object in locating the manufactory in this sec- 
tion was because wood is cheap ($3.00 per cord), as the best 
hard wood is required ; soft maple, hemlock, and chestnut 
would be of no value. As, in making the acid, the wood is 
only charred, not burned, the sale of the charred wood nearly 
pays the expenses of the establishment. Perhaps $15,000 is 
invested in the buildings. 

There is one store at Brookdale — Beman's ; and another at 
Lawsville Center — late Eoger Kenyon's. 

At the latter place there is a grist-mill and saw-mill; the 
first erected in the township, by Newton Hawley ; and both now 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 233 

owned by Lewis A. Tompkins. It is the only grist-mill, while 
there are six saw-mills in the township. 

There are (1869) twelve school districts in Liberty, and the 
people pay a school-tax of $2000, on a valuation of $88,000 
(one-eighth of actual amount). Within a few years there has 
been a rapid rise in real estate. 

There has been no licensed tavern for ten years, consequently 
the town is orderly. 

Elder John Webster, and branches of his family, were the 
original Baptists of the township of Lawsville, and were of 
the Free-will order. The "strict" Baptists seceded (have about 
sixty members), and have erected one of the finest churches in 
the county, at a cost of $5500. Four contributors — Joseph 
and Watson Bailey, Stephen Dawley, and Eoger Kenyon, Jr. 
— gave very nearly half that sum. It was dedicated in August, 
1868. Garry Law, Eeuben and Caswell Ives constitute the Pres- 
byterian church committee ('/). 

The Union Sabbath-school at Lawsville Center has about 
seventy scholars and ten teachers. 

A soldiers' aid society was sustained at the Center eighteen 
months during the war, or from its organization to the close of 
sanitary operations. 

Among the very aged persons who closed their lives in 
Liberty — once its pioneers — may be mentioned Mrs. M. 
Nichols (forty-seven years the wife of Ashbel Upson, and the 
mother of ten of his children), who died October, 1860, in the 
ninety-third year of her age, at the residence of her daughter, 
Mrs. S. W. Truesdell. Eetaining her mental faculties through 
life, she was able to relate many thrilling incidents of the Revo- 
lution, and other events of her childhood. Mrs. Hannah Web- 
ster died in 1870 in her eighty-seventh year. 

Mrs. Ruth Stanford, at the time of her death (1871), was the 
oldest person in the township, eighty-six years of age. 

Isaac Comstock, who came in 1828, died in Liberty, August, 
1872. 



CHAPTER XXL 

BRIDGEWATER AND MONTROSE. 

At January sessions, 1805, the court of Luzerne County was 
petitioned by Thomas Parke and others to erect a township 
from parts of Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Nicholson, and Rush, 
to be called Bridgewater. Its dimensions were described thus : — 



284: HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" Beginning at a point one mile above where Martin's Creek empties into 
the Tunkhannock, thence northerly to the forks of Martin's Creek, easterly 
from Bloomfield Milbourne's, thence north to intersect the south line of 
Lawsville, thence on that line to the southwest corner of Lawsville, thence 
northerly to the State line, thence west to the thirty-second mile-stone, 
thence south till it shall intersect a line to be drawn due west from place of 
beginning. 

On hearing the petition, Judge Rush directed the commis- 
sioners to return a plot, which they did, November, 1806, and 
the court then confirmed it. The original dimensions of 
Bridgewater included a small portion of what is now Wyo- 
ming County. Springville, Dimock, Lathrop, Brooklyn, Sil- 
ver Lake, and portions of Forest Lake, Jessup, and Franklin 
have been taken from it. 

It is more nearly the central township of the county than 
any other. Montrose, the county seat, is about four miles 
west of a central north and south line, and one mile north of an 
east and west line. The site of the court-house was located in 
1811. 

The township is a water-shed for three streams, the sources 
of which are in the vicinity of Montrose, and which in three 
different directions at length reach the Susquehanna River, 
viz., Snake Creek running north, the Meshoppen south, and 
the Wyalusing west and south. The Snake and Wyalusing 
Creeks, which rise within half a mile of each other, are prob- 
ably one hundred miles apart at their mouths; but the Mes- 
hoppen, though running for many miles at nearly a right angle 
with the latter, falls into the Susquehanna but a short distance 
below it. 

Hopbottom Creek is the outlet of Heart Lake on the east line 
of Bridgewater; it runs southwardly into Martin's Creek, and 
eventually into the Tunkhannock. 

Jones' Lake, within a mile of Montrose, is the principal 
source of Snake Creek; Williams' Pond, in the northern part 
of the township, is another, but inferior source of it. Cold 
Brook, near the line of Silver Lake, is a tributary of Silver 
Creek, which is itself a tributary of Snake Creek. 

A small pond near the south line of Bridgewater has an 
outlet emptying into the Meshoppen. 

Elevated as the township is, it is not more hilly than many 
another ; there are not such deep valleys here as along the 
principal creeks farther from their source. The Milford and 
Owego turnpike, which was laid out diagonally across the town- 
ship in 1809, sought the homes of settlers on the highest hills, 
plunging down one hill only to ascend another, and repeated 
the feat ad nauseam. As this was the great thoroughfare for 
years, it gave to Montrose and vicinity an unenviable reputa- 
tion, which the recent plank road but half redeemed. Still, the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 285 

most objectionable portion of the latter is outside of the town- 
ship, in the vicinity of Martin's Creek. 

In 1811-1813 the.Bridgewater and Wilkes-Barre turnpike 
was laid out over the high hills southward. Bach hill-top can 
easily serve as a mile-stone until Dimock Four Corners is 
reached. At one point on this road — the location of Eeuben 
Wells, 100 feet higher than Searle's Corner — a wide prospect 
is obtained, including a portion of Wayne County, on the north- 
east; and Campbell's Ledge, at the head of Wyoming Valley, 
on the south. 

But there is no elevation in Bridgewater that can be digni- 
fied by the name of mountain. 

The soil is naturally good, capable of producing all the crops 
generally raised in this latitude ; such as wheat, rye, oats, corn, 
potatoes of excellent quality and large quantity. Grass is one 
of the staple products ; the raising of stock and making of 
butter and cheese has been, of late years, very profitable for 
our farmers. The raising of sheep is not attended to as much 
as formerly. 

When Susquehanna County was organized, Bridgewater con- 
tained five hundred taxables. About forty-five of these were 
set off with Silver Lake, sixty-six with Springville, and over 
eighty with. Waterford ; leaving about three-fifths of the list 
to Bridgewater. 

The first settler within the present bounds of Bridgewater, 
was Stephen Wilson, a native of Vermont, who came from 
Burlington, Otsego County, New York, in March, 1799, and 
located about half a mile below the center of the present bor- 
ough of Montrose. He was accompanied by his wife and 
children (David and Mason S. — the latter being then but nine 
months old), Samuel Wilson, his brother, and Samuel Coggs- 
well, brother of his wife. The party entered the log-cabin 
which Mr. W. had erected the previous fall, in one week, when 
he and others came to look for land. 

Mr. Wilson's location became a landmark for the settlers who 
came in early in this century. His was the first house below 
the source of the Wyalusing, and the path leading from Hop- 
bottom and Nine Partners struck the stream at this point and 
followed it to its mouth, crossing it no less than eighteen times ; 
in some places it was necessary for the rider to swim his horse. 

His hospitality was extended to many a new-comer; Avhole 
families being sometimes entertained until their own cabins 
could be made habitable. 

Until within a few years the debris of Mr. Wilson's house 
were to be seen on the upper corner of the Wyalusing Creek 
road, where it joins the Wilkes Barre turnpike ; but at present 
only an old apple tree, standing near, serves to mark the site. 



286 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

His orchard was the first in Bridgewater, and he raised his 
apple trees from seed. 

The first birth in the township was that of his daughter Al- 
meda (in 1800), who became the first wife of John Bard, Jr. 

The first public library of the township had its nucleus be- 
neath the humble roof of his second log-cabin, Avhich stood 
about fifty rods south of the first. A little later, it sheltered 
the most accomplished linguist that ever resided in the county. 
(See Authors.) 

Stephen Wilson's name appears in a document among the 
Luzerne County records, which is labeled "Rindaw Assess- 
ment for 1801. Rush Seated Property;" thus affording addi- 
tional proof that Rindaw, as a Pennsylvania district, was far 
more extensive than the "Yankee" township of that name, in- 
cluding the Forks of the Wyalusing. The document weighs 
ten ounces, and the postage on it from the Forks to Wilkes- 
Barre was forty cents. 

Mr. Wilson was one of the early commissioners of Susque- 
hanna County. In 1819 he sold his farm to Price, and 

removed to Wysox, and in 1823 to Alleghany County, New 
York, where he died April 15, 1848, aged seventy-six. His son 
Stephen remains there. Of the rest of his family, David was 
of the firm of Wilson and Gregory, who kept a small store near 
the south line of Montrose in 1816. Samuel C. was editor of 
the ' Susquehanna County Herald' in 1822. Robert is a lawyer 
in Chicago, and has presided over its criminal courts. Three 
daughters are still living. Mason S. Wilson is the only repre- 
sentative of the family in the county. He is also Bridgewater's 
oldest resident, never having been but temporarily absent, and 
the merchant of the longest standing. 

Samuel Wilson, brother of Stephen, Sr., took up what has 
long been known as the Roberts farm ; it joined the farm of J. 
W. Raynsford. He sold his improvement here and built a log 
cabin on the site of the Gregory tenant-house, and from there 
removed to another location in Bridgewater, where he remained 
some v ears after his brother left. He died in Wyoming County, 
where the youngest of his six sons now resides. All have left 
Susquehanna County. 

Samuel Coggswell built his house a little west of Stephen 
Wilson, and within the "Connecticut township" of Manor, the 
line being between them. The land (afterwards the-Park farm) 
was the greater part of a gore which Mr. W. took out from the 
State Land Office and sold to Mr. C. at twenty-five cents per acre, 
while lands of the Clyrner estate just across the turnpike were 
selling at $1.50 per acre. 

Nehemiah Maine took up land under the Connecticut title in 
1799, just east of the Reuben Wells homestead, but was not 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 287 

long after located in Dimock. Samuel Maine lived a few years 
on the farm, since Joseph Butterfield's. David Doud lived on 
the Kingsley farm, but was probably soon after on the Wyalu- 
sing. His son-in-law, Miles Bunnel, lived near N. Maine. Mr. 
M. sold his right to B. Bostwick, who sold to E. Wells, Sr. 

Before the close of 1799, Ozem Cook had settled beyond 
Messrs. Wilson and Coggswell, on the farm now owned and 
occupied by Moses S. Tyler. His location was in Manor. 

In 1800, Captain Bartlet Hinds, an officer of the Eevolution, 
originally from Boston, but then from South Hampton, Long 
Island, came into what is now Montrose, as an owner and agent 
of lands for ex-Governor Huntington, of Connecticut, under 
the title of that State. 

He had in his company his step-son, Isaac Post, then sixteen 
years old ; Eobert Day, Daniel and Eldad Brewster, who settled 
in Bridgewater ; Daniel Foster, John Eeynolds (second time), 
and Ichabod Halsey, who settled in Jessup ; and Frederick 
Loper, who did not remain. 

They came by the way of Cherry Eidge, Nine Partners, and 
Hopbottom (now Brooklyn), at which points they found a few 
settlers. After leaving Hopbottom Creek, they were guided by 
marked trees and a slight path — no road. They arrived at 
Stephen Wilson's cabin at four o'clock P. M., on the 11th of 
May. Here Captain Hinds and son stopped for the night; the 
others went on three miles to the cabin of Messrs. Foster and 
Eeynolds. They shoveled out the snow, provided hemlock 
boughs for bedding, and here most of them camped. Two or 
three went a few miles further to the cabin of Samuel Lewis, 
which stood a little below Dr. Cornwell's present residence. 

Captain Hinds decided to locate on the present site of Mont- 
rose, and he was assisted by Eobert Day and Isaac Post in 
building a log cabin on the ground now occupied by the resi- 
dence of the late David Post, Esq., where they camped for 
the season, and commenced clearing away the dense forest. 
Directly north there was not a settler between Captain Hinds 
and the State line, but there were at least three or four families 
in Lawsville, nearly northeast from him. Captain Joseph Chap- 
man and Colonel Thomas Parke, Martin Myers, and the 
Spencers, in Dimock and Springville, were the only families 
between him and Tunkhannock. 

In the fall of 1800, he returned to Long Island, but came 
back in 1801 with his family, consisting of his wife (formerly 
the widow Agnes Post), with her two sons, Isaac and David 
Post, a daughter, Susannah, and son, Conrad, children of his 
former wife, and Bartlet, the only living child of his last 
marriage. 

B. Hinds' family celebrated the first Fourth of July here 



288 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

(1801) b}' cutting thirteen trees until they were just ready to 
fall, and so situated that a heavy stroke would precipitate one 
upon the other in one thundering crash, resembling the roar of 
cannon. Jason Torrey, now of Honesdale, then surveying in 
this wilderness, and knowing of no human being within miles 
of him, heard this astounding noise, and hurrying forward to 
ascertain the cause, found himself, with delighted surprise, in 
the midst of society and patriotism. 

The trees were felled on land of the Post brothers, Isaac and 
David, the purchase being made for them by Captain Hinds 
from the avails of their father's estate, and is now covered by 
the borough of Montrose. Cold water toasts were drank on 
this occasion, one of which was "The United States! may their 
fertile soil yield olive for peace, laurel for victory, and hemp 
for treason!" 

Bartlet Hinds was born at Middleboro', Mass., April 4, 1855. He was 
baptized into the Middleboro' Baptist church, when about sixteen years old, 
by his father, Elder Ebenezer Hinds, then its pastor ; and was the first 
Baptist church-member that came into the county. 

He had served as a soldier, as private and first lieutenant ; and was breveted 
captain in the Revolutionary army. He was shot through the left lung at 
the taking of Burgoyne ; was one of the " forlorn hope," claiming to have 
had command of the detachment at the storming of Stony Point, and first 
proclaimed " the fort is our own ;" served to the end of the war, after being 
wounded, in castle duty. 

He had a diploma entitling him to membership in the Society of Cincin- 
nati, formed by the officers of the army, at the close of the Revolution. 

For at least a dozen years after Captain Hinds brought his family here 
the place was known as '"The Hinds Settlement." He was the first justice 
of the peace. 

The Eev. A. L. Post, grandson of Captain Hinds' wife, relates 
the following: — 

In 1801, while on a road view between his log dwelling and Lawsville, near 
the place of Joseph Williams' subsequent settlement, he met, much to the 
surprise of both parties, his old friend and fellow-officer of the Revolution, 
Col. Timothy Pickering, afterwards one of the most prominent men in the 
Union, who was surveying lands which he had purchased under the Penn- 
sylvania title. It was about noon, and so, after the " How do you do ?" Col. 
P. said, "Captain Hinds, will you take dinner with me?" 

The latter replied, " I don't care if I do, colonel, if you can treat me to 
a fresh steak !" 

" That will I do," the colonel replied, " if you will go with me to my cabin 
half a mile away;" and he conducted him thither, and entertained him in 
true soldier style. 

After recounting some of the scenes of the war in which they had taken 
part, the colonel explained to Captain H. the whole matter of jurisdiction 
and land title after the decree at Trenton ; told him of his own purchase, 
which he was then surveying, and satisfied him of the probability that the 
Pennsylvania title must hold good. He (Hinds) thereupon went to Phila- 
delphia ; subsequently fully satisfied himself that Col. Pickering was correct ; 
found the owners of the land upon which he had settled ; made his purchase, 
and returned. He was the first person in this section who became con- 
vinced of the validity of the Pennsylvania title, and yielded to its claims. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 289 

He was to " Manor," 1 as to its civil polity, what Col. Hyde was to " Usher," 
the prominent man; and this fact accounts for the indignation that was 
visited upon the former after the step just mentioned. This was natural, 
and is not here referred to by way of reproach to any of the parties. 

(Though reference has been made, elsewhere, to the mob, the following 
details given by Rev. A. L. Post will be of interest.) 

It was probably late in 1802 that, under pretence of some kind, he was 
summoned before a justice in Rush. His brother, Abinoam Hinds, and 
Isaac Peckins (who settled here that year) went with him, expecting foul 
play. Whilst there a mob gathered and surrounded the house; but the three 
barricaded the door as best they could, and prepared for defence. The de- 
fences were forced away, and the mob entered, a number of them to be piled 
in an uncomfortable and bruised heap upon the floor. Isaac Peckins was a 
large, bony, and powerful man. Failing to break out one of the posts of an 
old-fashioned chair, he wielded the whole of it with great success against 
the intruders. 

But, overpowered by numbers, the trio had to yield. A sort of sham 
trial resulted in the decision that Hinds should leave the country ; but he 
refused to submit to the decision. 

His age, his experience, his native shrewdness, aud energy of character, 
and his piety withal, fitted him for a pioneer, and a prominent actor in all 
that pertained to the civil and religious interests of a new country. He was 
greatly valued as a counselor and faithful adviser. 

He was a tall man, and. in early life, athletic, although slender. He had 
black hair, and a dark hazel eye set deep beneath a long black eyebrow. 

My childhood-remembrance of him in the church meetings for worship 
in the old school-house (Wilson's school-house, as it was called in early 
times, from its nearness to Stephen Wilson's residence) is as he stood up 
behind a chair, making thoughtful, measured remarks ; or, sitting with right 
elbow in his left hand, the right hand pulling his long eyebrows, appearing as 
if he could look into the soul of any upon whom his eye might light. 

He lived to see all his children, and his wife's children, hopefully con- 
verted and baptized into the church, and all comfortably settled in life, except 
one, who, in the triumphs of faith, went before him to the spirit land. His 
own death occurred October 11, 1822, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 
Mrs. Hinds died May 7, 1834. Her first husband was Isaac Post, of South 
Hampton, L. I. 

Conrad Hinds, son of Captain Bartlet, by his first wife, lived in Bridge- 
water nearly sixty years. In 1810 he was baptized by Elder Dimock, and 
his after-life proved the sincerity of his faith. 

He was ordained deacon of the Bridgewater Baptist church in 1829. 
The Bible was his study, and religion his theme at home and abroad. Hence, 
when others flagged he seemed most awake. In other respects he was rather 
retiring, and, next to his religion, home, the farm, and the deep wildwoods 
had most attraction for him. He lived until October, 1860, when his death 
was the last of the first family that located within the present limits of Mon- 
trose. 

Isaac Post was born in South Hampton, L. I., August 12, 1784. During 
the first years after the arrival of the first family of settlers in Montrose he 
was the mill-boy, and often went down to the mouth of the Wyalusing, on 
horse-back, after flour and provisions. He was also the cow-boy and hunter ; 
was depended upon mostly for venison; was acknowledged to be the best 
woodsman — surest to keep the points of the compass, and find his way home 
from the chase. 



1 The northeast corner of the Manor was somewhere between the lots now 
owned by J. D. Drinker aud Walter Foster. 
19 



290 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



He chopped some acres of forest in the upper part of his place before any 
of the family discovered it, and when it was discovered Captain Hinds sup- 
posed some squatter had been trespassing upon- his premises. Young Post 
had done this by hiding his ax, then taking his gun as if on a hunt, he would 
go to his chopping. As he often brought venison home at night, no one 
suspected his business. 

He chopped down the first tree in Montrose; helped build the first log- 
house in 1800; built the first frame-house in 1806; the first store, and the 
first blacksmith-shop ; was the first postmaster, March, 1808. He also built 
the first turnpike, 1811-14 ; ran the first stage ; was the first treasurer of the 
county. 

Fig. 18. 







THE OLD POST HOUSE. 



[The chimney was twice as large as shown in the cut. The adjoining buildings are modern.] 

In 1812 he passed through military grades from ensign to major, and in 
1811 was brigade inspector to July 1814, and, as such, had charge of the 
Danville expedition. He built the academy in 1818 ; the Baptist meeting-house 
in 1829; was a member of the State legislature in 1828-29; and associate 
judge of Susquehanna County courts from October 17, 1837, to Feb. 1843. 

He was baptized into the Bridgewater Baptist church in 1810. 

In 1814 he was challenged by a recruiting officer, Lieut. Findley, to fight 
a duel. He did not signify his acceptance, but Findley, on being told he 
could shoot a rooster's head off with a pistol, backed down and asked pardon. 

Isaac Post gave the county all of the public grounds and half of the lots 
as marked on the first town plot. 

There was not, during his life, a public improvement in which he did not 
have a prominent part as originator or promoter. 

He was a prominent Republican (as the democrats were originally called), 
and, in 1817, was a delegate from this county to the convention at Harris- 
burg that nominated Wm. Findley for governor. 



i»:;v5. : - ' 





&t^ 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 291 

When in the legislature he secured the passage of an act making Susque- 
hanna County a separate election district, when he knew this would defeat 
his re-election. 

He was a Mason, but finally refused to meet with the fraternity because 
they appointed drunkards to reclaim drunkards. He ultimately became 
opposed to all secret societies. When one of his sons asked his advice 
about joining the lodge, he replied, "One fool in the family is enough." 

One incident is here taken from his diary, as illustrating his 
persistent courage in an emergency. Under date of January 2, 
1815, he says : — 

• ; Left Greene and reached the river (at Chenango Point) when the sun 
was two hours high. The boat being frozen in, the ferryman would not come 
over after me. I then took my clothes in my arms, got on my horse with 
my knife handy to cut the harness if necessary, and bounded into the river — 
cutter and all. A number of persons stood expecting to see me go down, 
but fortune favored me and I got over safe, and arrived home (twenty miles) 
about 12 o'clock at night." 

Isaac Post married his step-sister, Susanna Hinds. She died November 
15, 1846, aged sixty-four. Of their sons William L., Albert L., Isaac L., 
and George L., the eldest was the first male child born in Montrose, in 1807 ; 
he died while in the service of the government, at Washington, D. C, Feb. 
26, 1871. With the exception of a few months, Montrose was his life-long 
residence, as it is now the resting-place of his remains. Born in the first 
and then half-finished framed dwelling-house of the town (See Fig. 18), he 
lived to see all of the changes which have since taken place, and to take a 
prominent part in making it all that it is to-day. 

f the six daughters of Judge Post, but one survives. He died March 23, 
1855. 

David Post, brother of Isaac, was two years his junior. He came into 
what is now Montrose, in 1801, and spent the remainder of his life within 
twenty rods of the first cabin he here entered. The two brothers cleared 
most of the forest which covered the place. They acted together in busi- 
ness matters, successfully and harmoniously; and were also together in all 
the improvements of the town and county. 

D. Post was appointed a justice of the peace by the governor, and gave 
great satisfaction. He started the first furnace for casting iron in Montrose. 
He was among the number baptized into the Bridgewater Baptist church by 
Elder Dimock, in 1810. He took a prominent part in all matters pertaining 
to the interests of the denomination in this section of country to near the 
period of his death. 

He was kind, generous, and social. He was a republican of the early 
and later times; a strong friend and supporter of free missions, and of the 
anti-slavery movement. In the settlement of difficulties in the community 
and in the church, in arbitrations and councils, his services were often sought. 

He lived in three different houses, one of which was the first log-cabin 
in the place; the second, a small frame house, built by his step-father, just 
below our cemetery-hill, behind the row of poplars that still stand between 
the residence of I. N. Bullard and the first road leading to the cemetery. 

To that house, now gone, he brought his bride — Minerva, daughter of 
Samuel Scott— in January, 1809, and there three of their eleven children were 
born. In 1814 he built the house so long known as his residence, at the foot 
of Main Street, the rear of which stands on the site of Capt. Bartlet Hinds' 
log-cabin, which had been scarcely more of a landmark to the first settlers 
of Bridgewater than Esq. Post's large, hospitable dwelling was to the first 
comers to the new county seat. It stands due north and south. 

For. thirty years or more the court judges made this their home during 
the sessions. Here several newly married people began housekeeping, 



292 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

having the use of one or two rooms ; bachelors and maidens and any home- 
less ones found it a kindly shelter. 

Esq. Post and his wife passed more than fifty years of life together. He 
died February 24, 1860, in the seventy-fourth year of his age ; she died Feb. 
24, 1871, aged nearly eighty-one years. They had eleven children, of whom 
only five survive. 

Robert Day was a man of determined purpose and of undoubted in- 
tegrity. He was a Baptist church member, whose Christian life and pro- 
fession dated from the " Great Revival" of 1810. He aided in the erection of 
the first grist-mill of Bridgewater, on the Wyalusing Creek, two miles below 
Montrose. Between that point and the borough he cleared a farm and erect- 
ed buildings, where he resided until within a few years, when he moved into 
town, where he died June 26, 1865. A Christian patriot, loyal to the last, 
he lived to rejoice over the end of slavery and the rebellion. 

In 1804 he married Hannah, daughter of Jedediah Hewitt. She died in 
1815, leaving two children. By his second marriage he had two daughters. 
The only one of his children now living is H. H. Day, Esq., of Susquehanna. 

The farms of Daniel and Eldad Brewster were those since occupied by 
Thomas Johnson (ex-sheriff and justice of the peace and recently deceased) 
and Horace Brewster. 

Daniel Brewster served two years in the war of 1812. He removed many 
years ago, and died recently on Frenchtown Mountain, aged ninety-two. 

Eldad Brewster married in 1815 Hannah, third daughter of Deacon Moses 
Tyler. He died December, 1831, leaving his widow with nine children, the 
youngest but five months old. The sons are Horace, Daniel, and Warren. 

In 1800 Amolo Balch made a small clearing one and a half miles south of 
Stephen Wilson. In 1801 Joshua W. Raynsford, a native of Windham 
County, Connecticut, came to the clearing that had been begun by Amolo 
Balch. His log-house was by the spring near the present new road. It is 
said that Balch sold his improvement to Robert Day for a horse, and R. Day 
sold to J. W. Raynsford. Not one of them had any legal title to it, Balch 
having been indicted for intrusion early in 1801. J. W. Raynsford after- 
wards went on foot to Philadelphia to see the Pennsylvania landholder, and 
obtained from him a valid title. The farm was a desirable one, almost the 
only bit of table-land between Montrose and the present south line of Bridge- 
water. To this place, on which he had erected a log-cabin, Mr. Raynsford 
brought his family in the spring of 1802. They made their first meal on 
water cresses. A small tributary of the Wyalusing has its rise on the farm. 

In the spring of 1802, he bought for fifty cents a half bushel of potatoes, 
and planted them with a handspike, and reserved the rest as a precious ad- 
dition to a scanty larder. In the fall of the same year, all of his boots but 
the legs were worn out, and he went on horseback, barefoot, twenty-seven 
miles to procure leather for another pair. 

Until 1803, the cabin, like all others in the vicinity, had only oiled paper 
for windows. Three days' absence from work (reckoned as worth fifty cents 
per day), while making the journey to and from Wilkes-Barre, where glass 
could be obtained, and where he procured twelve panes (7x9) for twelve 
shillings, made the coveted windows of four panes each, a costly outlay for 
those times. But his trip afforded his neighbors the opportunity of securing 
supplies of sugar, tea, etc., which he brought in his saddle-bags, in that 
spirit of accommodation which belonged to the early settlers, while the 
precious glass was carried by hand the whole distance. The cabin reached, 
the glass was deposited upon the bed, whilst the neighbors came in to get 
their share of the groceries purchased. After the proper measure had been 
given to each, for which the "steel-yards" had been in requisition, Mrs. R. 
thoughtlessly tossed them on the bed, and instantly shivered every pane of 
the dear-bought glass ! 

Joseph Raynsford, father of J. W. R., joined him in this wilderness not 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



293 



long after, and erected a framed house, which is still standing, and is almost 
the only relic in the county of a style of houses built at that early period. 

Fiff. 19. 







THE OL.D RAYNSFORD HOUSE. 

The door seen ia the engraving opens into the room where the " first Con 
gregational church of Bridgewater" (now Presbyterian church of Montrose) 
was organized, in 1810. In the mean time, J. W. Eaynsford built a house a 
few rods north, with a porch or piazza on two sides — and here he resided 
several years ; but only its crumbling foundation is now to be seen. He was 
appointed a justice of the peace about 1812 ; and had his office here until 
about 1817-18, when he moved into Montrose, having built the house now 
occupied by F. M. Williams. After a short time he built and removed to the 
house opposite the present residence of Jerre Lyons, to which was added a 
two-story office, since removed. Here his father died, July, 1832. His 
mother died in the old house previously. 

A man of marked characteristics, the influence of Joshua W. Raynsford 
could not fail to be felt. He was active in the social, political, educational, 
and religious interests of the community. Upon his disconnection with the 
Presbyterian church, of which he was an early member, he became the chief 
instrument in the formation of the Episcopal church of Montrose. His 
habits of system and order were apparent in all his affairs. He kept a diary, 
from which, in his later years, he was accustomed to read for the pleasure of 
others many of the incidents of his pioneer life ; it is unfortunate that it is 
not available for these pages, excepting a few items, which were taken down 
by his hearers. During his magistracy of thirty years, he had 36,680 suits 
before him, which are registered in twenty-four folio volumes ; he took ac- 
knowledgments of one thousand deeds, and united one hundred and four 
couples in marriage. 

He was twice married. His first wife, a daughter of Walter Lathrop. died, 
March, 1831, leaving six children; the three daughters are now deceased, 
and none of the sons reside within the county. The pall and bier were first 
used at Mrs. R's. funeral. Mr. R. died suddenly, November 12, 1852, aged 
seventy-three. His widow died about two years afterwards. 

In the winter of 1803-4, J. W. Raynsford had taught the first school within 
the present limits of Bridgewater, in a log house, about a mile southwest of 
Montrose, and had then forty-two scholars. This surprising number in so 
new a settlement will be accounted for as we return to the list of in-comers. 



294 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Elias West and family, from Connecticut, settled in 1801, on 
the farm that is now crossed by the north line of Dimock and 
the Wilkes-Barre turnpike. 

David Harris and family, from Southampton, L. I., were on 
the Wyalusing, at the place already mentioned as the site of 
the first grist-mill. It is probable he began the mill this 3 r ear, 
as he was taxed for one, but it does not appear to have been 
completed under two or three years. 

Jonathan Wheaton and family, from Otsego County, N. Y., 
settled about half a mile east of Capt. B. Hinds. He was then 
the settler nearest to the lake, which, in consequence, was long 
known as Wheaton's Pond ; but his cabin was on the site of a 
house, now reached by a road turning to the left from the foot 
of the hill, on the brow of which now stands the Methodist 
church. Like Capt. Hinds, Mr. Wheaton was a Baptist, and the 
two agreed with Daniel Foster, a Presbyterian (three miles 
away), to meet for religious worship every Sabbath ; this was 
sacredly observed by the trio, from 1802 to 1807, when their 
number was greatly increased. But we anticipate. 

Jedediah Hewitt, from Norwich, Conn., with his wife, son, 
and five daughters, settled next below Kobert Day, on the 
Wyalusing. 

Thomas Crocker, a native of Bozrah, Conn., came to look 
for land, made a small clearing and rolled up the walls of a 
house on what is now the Conklin farm in Dimock, in 1800. 
He then returned for his family, and, in 1801, had brought 
them as far as Barnum's, in Lawsville, when he was persuaded 
to remain and work for Mr. B. a year. On learning that the 
road to Tunkhannock would not pass the place he had selected 
the previous year, lie gave it up. In 1802, he brought his family 
to the farm adjoining that of Elias West on the north. Plere 
he remained until 1812, when he removed to the farm where 
he died, in 1848, in his eighty-third year. Mrs. C. died in 
1844, aged seventj^-five. They had eight children. Their sons 
were Hyde, Lucius, John S., Austin, and Daniel W. 

In 1802, Samuel and John Backus, from Norwich, Conn., 
settled just below J. Hewitt, and the families were, for the 
second time, neighbors. Two of the daughters of Mr. H. were 
wives of the former, and another became the wife of R. Day. 
John Backus died February, 1871, in his ninety-fourth year. 

Abinoam Hinds, a brother of the first settler in Montrose, 
and Isaac Peckins, brother-in-law of the former, came from 
Middleboro', Mass., and settled a little west and southwest of B. 
Hinds. A. Hinds bought of R.Day what has since been known 
as "Howell Hill." He died in Bradford County, February, 
1849, aged eighty-four. His family is still represented here by 
his son,. Major D. D. Hinds. Isaac Peckins died in May follow- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 295 

ing, at the same age; his widow, in February, 1852. His house 
is now within the borough limits, near the western line. It is 
said that Esther Peckins taught the first school in Montrose, 
in a barn. 

A newspaper writer, under the heading of A Drawn Battle, 
says : — 

"Over thirty years ago, the venerable Isaac Peckins thus 
narrated to me an adventure which happened about two miles 
northwest of Montrose: — 

" ' One day I went out to cut an ox-yoke, in a little swale or swamp near the 
raedder on your father's farm. The briers on the wet ground had grown up 
drefful thick, and taller than my head. Wal, I was chopping, when I heered 
a kind of growling and stirring among the bushes on ahead. I looked and 
see a little kind of sheep path that way. So I got down on my hands and 
knees — for I couldn't go straight — and crawled along under some ways. At 
last, I came to a round spot, about as large as this room. There wa' n't any- 
thing onto it, but the tall briers rose all around. Right on t'other end there 
was another hole which led out. Just as I popped up my head and stood 
straight, there stood a great black bear within three feet of me. He stood 
still, and looked right at me. I had left my ax behind, and had nothing to 
defend myself. I remembered an old hunter 't used to be around here, named 
Hale, who said there was no animal in this country that would touch a man 
if he looked at it straight in the eye. So I looked at him, and stepped towards 
him. He brussled up, and snarled, and stood still. I thought it was a' ticklish 
place. I lifted up my voice and yelled and heowled as loud as I could. That 
seemed to set the creetur crazy. He heowled and tore the ground with his 
feet. I did n't know what would become of me. At last I took off my old 
hat, shook it, and ran at him. All at once he dropped his brussels, turned 
round, dropped his tail, and run out the other hole. I followed him, and was 
near enough when he went out to kick him behind. I had a good will to, 
but thought I was satisfied to get off as well, and I went back by my hole. 
Terrible great creetur !' " 

The fourth of July, 1802, was celebrated by a flotilla of log- 
rafts on the lake — young people all afloat together, singing, 
huzzaing, and afterwards enjoying a lunch. 

Jacob Eoberts, from Vermont, in 1803, bought of Samuel 
Wilson the first farm south of Stephen Wilson, and which has 
been occupied until recently by his son, Zina Roberts. 

About the same time, Walter Lathrop and family came into 
the south neighborhood; thus, there were about a dozen fami- 
lies, besides those whose arrival preceded that of J. W. Rayns- 
ford, within the present limits of Bridgewater, when he taught ; 
and, doubtless, families farther down the Wyalusing were repre- 
sented in his school. It was not far from this time that the 
first death of an adult occurred — that of Mrs. Hyde, the mother 
of Mrs. Thomas Crocker. 

Walter Lathrop's log-house stood on the spot now covered 
by an orchard, just below the house built within a few years 
by Silas Perkins. He afterwards built the small framed house, 
now gone, that stood just north of the latter, where he died in 



296 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1817, aged sixty-eight. Mrs. L. died in 1838, aged eighty-three. 
Their sons were Benjamin, Daniel, and Rodney who died at 
the West. 

Benjamin Lathrop, late associate judge of the county, came 
with his father from Connecticut. He married a daughter of 
Asahel Avery, and located on that part of his father's farm 
which is now owned by Wm, Haughwort, where he resided 
many years before removing to Montrose, and where Mrs. L. 
died. They had five sons and one daughter, and by his second 
marriage he had one son, all residents of Montrose, except 
Benj. F., a physician, who died at the West. Judge Lathrop 
died July, 1861, aged seventy-seven. 

Daniel Lathrop married a daughter of Jacob Perkins, and 
lived in the small house previously occupied by his father's 
family. Still later, he removed to the old Raynsford house, 
where he was gate-keeper on the turnpike; but, subsequently, 
he built the house now occupied by Gr. Decker, where he died 
July, 1842. He was twice married. Of his ten children, only 
two sons and one daughter (of Montrose) reside in the county. 

Jacob Perkins removed from Dimock and lived opposite the 
last residence of Daniel Lathrop, where he died in 1846, aged 
eighty-two. His widow died in Montrose in 1851, aged eighty- 
four. 

In the spring of 1804, John Bard and Zebulon Deans came 
in, on foot, from Lebanon, Windham Co., Conn., and selected 
farms adjoining. They then returned to Connecticut, but 
brought in their families in the fall. Each had a span of 
horses, but they were two days in coming from Great Bend, as 
they were obliged to cut brush to clear the road before them. 
The arrived the 4th of October. The Bard family stopped at 
the house of Walter Lathrop ; the Deans at that of Thomas 
Crocker. Both began immediately to roll up log-houses. 

It was not until 1810 that J. Bard (commonly called captain) 
occupied the farm of Thomas Crocker ; he first cleared the farm 
at present owned by Perrin Wells. He brought in six children ; 
John, now dead, was the eldest; Samuel, our respected towns- 
man, was then eight years old ; the children at length numbered 
eleven, two of whom died when young men, within two weeks 
of each other. Captain Bard died in 1852, aged seventy-nine ; 
Mrs. Bard, "a great worker," lived to be ninety, and died in 1863. 

Mr. Deans built his first house this side, or east of Mr. Bard, 
on the site of the red house for many years occupied by his son 
James, but which has since been burned; his framed house, 
with rived clapboards, was erected in 1814, on the Wilkes-Barre 
turnpike, a little below the late residence of J. F. Deans, south 
of the graveyard. That too is gone ; it resembled the Rayns- 
ford house now standing, and like that, around it cluster asso- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 297 

ciations dear to every early Presbyterian or Congregationalist 
of the township. 

The family of Mr. Deans consisted, in 1801, of his wife (a 
sister of Thomas Crocker) and two sons, Orimel and James — 
the latter ten years old the day they reached Great Bend 
— and two daughters. Their first thanksgiving-dinner here 
consisted of potatoes roasted in ashes, with salt. 

Zebulon Deans was a carpenter and joiner, and built the first 
Presbyterian church in Montrose. He joined this religious 
body at its first communion, was elected deacon in 1812, and 
became a ruling elder, which offices he held until his death in 
1848, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His wife died in 
1851, in her eightieth year. They had four daughters and 
three sons. The eldest and the youngest (John F.) have removed 
from the county; James, also a Presbyterian elder, died in 
Montrose, September, 1865, aged seventy-one. 

In November, 1804, Benajah McKenzie came from Lebanon, 
Windham County, Connecticut, and selected his farm — tho 
same occupied by him until within a few years — in the extreme 
southwest corner of the present bounds of the township. Cap- 
tain Bard and Mr. McK. went twent}*- miles to Merryall the 
first winter for grain, and had it ground there, at Black's mill. 
The site of this mill is a little above the present mill of Elisha 
and J. E. Lewis, two and one-half miles below Camptown, near 
the mouth of the Wyalusing. It was a common thing to go 
that distance to get grain ground, and indeed this place was the 
nearest for the purpose, to all jn this vicinity, whenever Har- 
ris' or Griffis' mills were out of order or were too full of work. 

Mr. McKenzie worked for Joab Picket in 1805, and was 
there while the Pennsylvania surveyors were trying to run 
their lines on lands which were claimed under the Connecticut 
title. Holders under the latter did not hesitate to take their 
guns and shoot to intimidate the surveyors, and for a time 
embarrassed their operations. 

During the eclipse, June 6th, 1806, Mr. McK. was chopping 
in the woods where the graveyard now is, near the south neigh- 
borhood church ; it grew so dark he was compelled to stop 
work and he went up to the log school-house, which had been 
erected in 1805 on the same side of the road, near the top of 
the hill, just below the present residence of R. Wells. Isaac 
A. Chapman taught the first school there. Prior to this a log 
school-house had been built and used on the Stroud place. 
The next school-house was built near the graveyard, also on 
the west side of the road, on nearly the same site as the one 
that was left standing twenty years ago. 

Mr. McKenzie was once returning from Brooklyn late at 
night, and, reaching the Meshoppen, he wearied himself in 



298 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

searching for means to cross it. The weather and water were 
cold, and this, or the depth of the latter, prevented him from 
wading. At last he espied a tree growing on the opposite 
shore, which was so much inclined over the stream, that he 
caught a twig of one of the topmost branches, and proceeding 
hand-over-hand, he reached the other side. 

He was married November, 1810, to Sabrina, daughter of 
Ezra Tuttle, of Springville. She died in 1851. Four of their 
sons reside at the west, one in Scranton, and one son and two 
daughters in Montrose; two daughters are dead, and one son, 
Charles, was killed while in the Union service. 

Mr. McK. cleared one hundred and twenty-five acres of his 
own farm, and fifty-three of that of his father-in-law. 

Late in life he sold his farm, and purchased a house and lot 
in Montrose. Just before his death, which occurred February 
9th, 1872, in his eighty-eighth year, he was the oldest man in 
the borough, the member of longest standing in the Presbyte- 
rian church, and was held in honor by all. 

Edward Fuller, whose wife was a sister of Elias West, came 
from Connecticut, with his family of five children in 1800, and 
located on the upper part of the farm of the latter. He under- 
stood making " wrought" nails, and this of itself was sufficient 
to make his advent a blessing to the community. He built a 
large frame house, two stories in front, with a porch, and a 
door opening on it from the second story; while the rear was 
only one story. It became a central point, being the place for 
holding elections; and, from the Christian character of Mrs. 
Fuller, the place where the early religious meetings were held. 
As yet, not a man of the south neighborhood was a professed 
Christian. Determined to impress upon her children her esti- 
mate of the Sabbath, she always dressed them in their best that 
day, even if that were no more than a clean apron to each one. 
They learned to be less boisterous than on week days ; so, 
praying mothers could meet and sing " the songs of Zion," and 
occasionally listen to a sermon read by Mr. Fuller or Mr. 
Ray ns ford. 

Here the family resided until 1812, when Mr. Fuller having 
received his appointment as sheriff, removed to the county seat, 
and kept the hotel built by I. Post, for one year, before enter- 
ing the one described on a later page. 

He died in Montrose April, 1854, in his eighty-sixth year. 
Mrs. Fuller, the last survivor of the original ten "members of 
the Presbyterian church, died in Scranton, December 14, 1861, 
also in her eighty-sixth year. Her funeral was the first service 
in the new Presbyterian church in Montrose. Her surviving 
descendants then numbered six sons (Charles, Edward, George, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 299 

Henry, Francis, and Isaac) and two daughters, thirty grand- 
children, and seventeen great-grandchildren. 

Alba Cornwell, Jr., came in from Connecticut " the fall before 
the great snow," and lived with Stephen Wilson through the 
winter. In what is now Montrose there were then but two 
buildings. 

He was soon after joined by his father, and they settled 
north of Jones' Lake (or Wheaton's Pond, as then called), on 
the place since occupied for many years by Timothy Warner, 
and now the farm of Charles Lathrop. The father and son 
built the "Newburgh turnpike," from New Milford to Mount 
Pleasant. 

Alba Cornwell, Sen., removed, after a few years, out of the 
township. Alba, Jr., went to the Wheaton farm, where he 
died in 1815. He made the first clearing on " the Mulford 
farm." His widow came to Montrose with her son, now Dr. 
N. P. Cornwell, of Jessup, and her two daughters, and lived 
in a log-house built for her opposite the present residence of 
Mrs. Fanny Lathrop. She died April 12, 1852. 

About 1806, Nathaniel Curtis, Sen., was the pioneer of East 
Bridgewater. Originally from Connecticut, he had located for 
a time in Herkimer County, N. Y., and came from there with 
his five sons, Nathaniel, Jr., Harvey, Warren, Daniel, and Ira, 
all of whom remained many years in the township. Harvey 
went West in 1837. Daniel came to Montrose before its in- 
corporation as a borough, and built what was then considered 
a commodious hotel, and kept a popular house. It forms the 
nucleus of the Tarbell House. His wife was a daughter of 
Major Eoss, of Push. They moved to the West about 1841, 
where Mr. C. died in 1862. Nathaniel Curtis, Sen., died a 
few years later ; Nathaniel, Jr., died May, 1850. 

During the winter of 1806-7, Henry Congdon, Asa and 
Samuel Baldwin, from Salisbury, N. Y., arrived in the settle- 
ment, and located a mile or two north of Bartlet Hinds. They 
browsed their cattle where the court-house now stands. John 
and Benjamin Fancher located in March still further north. 
These families were permanent settlers. The heads of the first 
two were among the constituent members of the Baptist 
church of Bridgewater, now Montrose. Henry Congdon died 
here in 1811, aged eighty-two; B. Fancher in 1810, aged sixty- 
four; S. Baldwin in 1870, aged eighty-five 

Nathan Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, and Simeon 
Tyler, a native of Vermont (who had married a sister of the 
former), came in together from Connecticut, February, 1807, 
with their families, ten persons in all, and all halted for five 
weeks at the house of Joseph Raynsford, whose only daughter 
was the wife of Nathan Brewster. 



300 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Simeon Tyler began preparations for building a log-bouse 
large enougb to accommodate bis own and Mr. Brewster's 
family. Mr. B. was laid aside from work, having cut his foot 
in getting out boards. But at lengtb, when all was ready, the 
great "snow-storm" delayed their removal until some time in 
April. 

This storm, to which reference is made by aged persons 
nearly as often as the great eclipse, occurred on the last day of 
March and the first day of April, 1807. Before the storm, Mr. 
McKenzie and others observed a peculiar appearance of the 
sun ; it was surrounded by three very bright circles (probably 
more haze-like than is shown by the diagram), and where they 
crossed on the outside were three luminous bodies, called 
"sun-dogs." 



Fi<r. 20 




sun-dogs, 1807. 

For several days, it was with the greatest difficulty that any 
locomotion was possible — snow-shoes being requisite for safety. 

The cabin of Mr. Tyler was three miles from Mr. Eaynsford, 
being at the northern foot of the first hill, due north of Mont- 
rose, one of the very longest and steepest of our hills. The 
season did not allow them to put up a chimney, and, until the 
frost was out of the ground, a hole in the roof was made to 
serve the purpose for two fires. Cooking was done on each 
side of a central pile of logs, and blankets served as a partition 
between the two families. Mr. Tyler had five children, and 
Mr. Brewster only one, a son, Nathan Waldo ; Waldo being 
the maiden name of Mrs. B.'s mother, Mrs. Joseph Eaynsford. 
And here it may be fitting to refer to the manner in which 
this section gathered in its settlers. The Brewsters were drawn 
here by the Eaynsfords ; Simeon Tyler by his connection with 
the Brewsters ; the Eaynsfords, by the fact that J. W. Eayns- 
ford's wife was a daughter of Walter Lathrop, who had settled 
on the Wyalusing in 1800. This is but an instance of what 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 301 

occurred in other family connections, as in the case of the 
Hewitts and Backuses, and the settlers from Long Island. 

In the fall of 1807, Nathan Brewster built a comfortable log- 
house directly opposite that of Mr. Tyler, on the site of the large 
framed house in which he afterwards lived for many years, and 
where he died. Both houses were near the source of one of 
the minor tributaries of the Wyal using. In the swamp not 
far from them, Mr. Brewster lost, during the first season, one 
of the horses of a pair he brought into the county. There 
was no feed for horses, except as they browsed, and it was the 
custom to attach a bell to their necks that they might be found 
when wanted. In this case, though diligent search was made, 
no sound of the missing horse was to be heard. At length, 
weeks after, it was found mired to the neck, and had starved to 
death. 

Mr. Tyler had brought a yoke of oxen, but, soon after the 
loss of Mr. B.'s horse, one of the oxen was killed by the fall 
of a tree. Thus the two farmers, at the outset of their pioneer 
life, were crippled in their efforts to subdue the wilderness. 
But Mr. T. finally succeeded in bartering off the ox for another 
horse, and thus a team was secured which was used in common 
by the separate owners. 

Simeon Tyler died July, 1850. He had eleven children, of 
whom the eldest, Harvey, has been our late representative at 
Harrisburg. 

Nathan Brewster had nine children, of whom only three sons 
and three daughters lived to adult age. He died March 7, 1847, 
aged 66 ; his widow in 1850. 

James Train, who lived in the vicinity of Montrose until his 
death in 1815, arrived at Stephen Wilson's " in the great 
snow." 

Samuel Fessenden arrived during the same storm ; he located 
for a time near J. Meacham, but afterwards near Joseph Backus, 
in Western Bridgewater. His son Henry, years after, bought 
a part of the old Doud farm between E. Kingsley and Joseph 
Butterfield. He died in 1847. 

S. B., son of Samuel Fessenden, a resident of Bridgewater, 
now eighty years of age, when fourteen years old rode on horse- 
back from his father's to near the mouth of the Wyal using 
Creek, and worked in the harvest field until he earned grain suffi- 
cient for a grist, took it to the nearest mill, and when ground 
returned safely home. When twenty-one years of age he was 
at work by the month near the foot of Jones' Lake, when a deer 
came bounding down the hill, jumped a descent of fifteen feet 
into the water, when he pursued and caught it around the neck, 
holding on with a will, until assistance came, when the deer was 
killed and dressed. 



302 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

"We have now reached an important period in the history of 
Bridgewater. From a historical discourse delivered by Eev. 
A. L. Post, fifty years later, we glean the following: — 

"An incident in the providence of God which makes it sure that 'It is 
not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' brought Elder Davis Dimock 
from Exeter (Luzerne County), on a visit to this place — then known as the 
' Hinds Settlement.' It was this : Captain Bartlet Hinds, then its prin- 
cipal settler, and, by the way, a member of the Middleboro' (Mass.) Baptist 
church, in the early spring of that year went to Wilkes-Barre on business. 
While there, he was told that there was to be preaching, at evening, in the 
court-house, and without knowing anything of the person who was to preach 
he went to hear. As the narrative of another day runs ; the preacher was in 
the prime of young manhood, and personally prepossessing, having a square- 
built athletic frame, a fine smooth countenance, a dark brilliant eye, musical 
voice, and quick fancy. He announced his text, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, 
his son, cleanseth us from all sin ;' and spoke with a life, pathos, and anima- 
tion that commended both the gospel and the preacher to the hearers, and 
especially to the one here introduced. That hearer took the young preacher 
into his heart and resolved to secure a visit from him to his wild-wood home. 
The preacher, by invitation, went to General Ross' to tarry for the night. 
Being an old friend of the general, Captain H. followed. An introduction and 
nearly an all-night interview, resulted in an agreement on the part of Elder 
Dimock, for he was the young preacher, to visit (D. V.) the Hinds Settle- 
ment, on the twenty-ninth of the month (March, 1807). On that day, after 
a horseback ride, through forest paths, from Harford, where he had preached 
to a small Baptist church, the day previous, Elder D. reined his horse up to 
the door of the log-cabin of ' Father' (a cognomen more generally used by 
him) Hinds, and received a most cordial welcome. 

" Here, after taking refreshments, he preached to the people, who had gen- 
erally gathered from all the surrounding country, the first gospel sermon ever 
preached in the settlement. A deep interest was felt and a strong desire 
expressed by many that he should remain another day and preach to them 
another sermon. To this he consented; but with the next day came a storm 
known as ' the great snow storm,' in which the snow fell to the depth of four 
feet on the level. This detained him full a week ; during which time he 
preached several sermons to the people, who turned out on snow-shoes and 
otherwise as best they could, to hear. Before leaving, as he did on the next. 
Monday after his arrival, he was induced to promise future visits in the 
course of the season. This he did, making the place twice in his circuit 
from Exeter to Harford and Wyalusing. At one of these times he baptized 
two persons, probably the first ever baptized in the county. These visits 
were the source of great comfort and encouragement to the few disciples 
who were scattered in these wilds; so much so that they began the holding 
of regular weekly meetings for prayer and conference, instead of occasional 
ones as formerly. The final result was the establishment of a little church, 
in 1808, under the name of the Bridgewater Baptist church, and the settle- 
ment of Elder Dimock as its pastor in 1809. He moved his family into the 
settlement June 17th of that year. From that time, this place became the 
central point of his labors." [See later page.] 

In July, 1807, Samuel Scott and family, from Long Island, 
settled in the north neighborhood. 

Asa Baldwin married S. Scott's eldest daughter, who is still 
living in Montrose; her husband died over fifty years ago, leav- 
ing her with eight children. Mr. Scott died April, 1835, in his 
seventy-sixth year. He had eleven children, and only one a son, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 303 

Nehemiah, wbo was a member of tbe Baptist cburcb over forty 
years, and long one of its most active deacons. Activity was 
characteristic of the man. 

A newspaper writer says: "It was claimed by bis father that 
the son, when twenty-one years old, mowed four acres in half a 
day." 

He married a daughter of Elder D. Dimock, and bad a 
large family. He died in September, 1870, aged seventy-four 
years. 

A daugbter of Samuel Scott was once lost two days in tbe 
woods. 

"While searching for her, Elder Dimock lost his watch. The next season 
the late Mr. Samuel Baldwin, while looking for cows, found the watch hang- 
ing on a bush. A small twig having run through the links of the steel chain 
had taken it from the pocket unnoticed. 

"The same men were out hunting deer ; the former hearing footsteps and 
seeing signs of something moving in the direction, raised his rifle, and when 
just upon the point of shooting, saw an object move, more of the appearance 
of a hat than a deer's head, and instantly dropped his rifle to the ground. 
It was a hat, and on the head of Mr. Baldwin. The effect was such upon 
Elder Dimock that he never went hunting afterwards." 

Thomas Scott, brother of Samuel, was also here in 1808. 

In March, 1808, Scott Baldwin and wife came to the farm 
adjoining that of Simeon Tyler on the north, and lived for sixty 
years on the same spot. They were originally from Connecti- 
cut, but moved to this place from Montgomery County, N. Y. 
From a statement made by Mr. Baldwin just fifty years later 
we copy the following: — 

" We had but one dollar in money left when we got here. We had to 
work out part of the time for a living, and the rest of the time for our place. 
Our house was a log-house, the floor made of slabs split out of trees, the win- 
dows made of sticks crossed and paper put on them for glass. The nearest 
grist-mill was three miles oil", and we had to go farther sometimes, and carry 
our grists on our backs. At one time we had to pay $1.62 for rye, and that 
we had ground without bolting. When our bread was almost gone, we had 
to lay some by for the children, and go without ourselves. Day after day we 
had to depend on our guns for meat. For tea, we used spicewood. 

" We used to make deer-licks by putting salt in certain places in the woods. 
One time 1 went to the place where I had put salt, and saw a very large deer- 
track. I climbed a tree, some thirty or forty feet high, with my gun. Be- 
fore dark I tied my gun to a limb of the tree, pointing it, as near as I could 
guess, where the deer would come. There I sat, all night, until daylight, but 
no deer came. I thought I would not give it up so, and tried it again. The 
third night 1 sat on the tree as before until the cock crowed for morning. 
I then heard something coming. It proved to be a deer. He came to the 
lick, 1 fired, and when 1 came down from the tree, found I had killed a very 
large buck. We then had meat again. 

•• in the fall we got out of salt, and there was but one place we could get it, 
and there only, at the price of $3.00 per bushel. I had nothing to buy it 
with, and concluded to see what hunting would do. I took my gun, went out 
into the woods, and found a bear that had gathered a large quantity of chest- 
nuts, 1 shot it, took its skin, and with it bought a bushel of salt. 



804 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

"Brother Samuel and myself went to Dr. Rose's for work. He gave us 
the job of clearing out the road between us and Silver Lake. We had to go 
from six to eight miles to our work. Our living was corn-bread and dried 
venison. Our bed, hemlock boughs, with leaves for covering. 

"There were settlers about six miles this side of Binghamton, and, on this 
end of the road, for about four miles north of Montrose ; between them were 
dense woods, the path being only marked trees." 

Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin lived together sixty-four years, and 
reared a family of twelve children, of whom one is at present 
associate judge of the county, and there was not a death among 
them until all were over thirty years of age, when the youngest, 
Isaac, was killed during the late war, at Springfield, Missouri. 
Mr. Scott Baldwin died January, 1869, in his eighty-first year. 
Samuel Baldwin's family was also large, and, at one time, the 
two brothers were obliged to pay two-thirds of the salary of 
the school teacher as their due proportion. 

Noah Baldwin, the father of Asa, Samuel, and Scott, came in 
from Connecticut a little later, with his fourth son, Matthew, 
who is still living in East Bridgevvater. He lived to be eighty- 
two years old, and his funeral was the first held in the old 
Presbyterian church, of which he was a member. His wife 
died in 1842 aged eighty-six. 

Simeon Cook and Richard Daniels settled on the North road, 
in 1808. 

Luther Dean came from Braintrim, the same year, and set- 
tled two miles west of Montrose, on the Owego turnpike. A 
beautiful double row of maples mark his location. He was one 
of the constituent members of the Baptist church. He died in 
Sept. 1813, and was the first adult buried in the village ceme- 
tery. Of his seven children, Mrs. N. Ii. Lyons is the only one 
now in the county. 

Moses Tyler, an older brother of Simeon, and a native of 
Massachusetts, came from Wilmington, Windham County, Vt., 
in the spring of 1808, not then anticipating to find a home in 
this section ; but, stopping in the south neighborhood to spend 
the Sabbath, it became known that he was a Congregationalist, 
and one ready to take an active part in a prayer-meeting. The 
circle of Christian mothers that had met from one Sabbath to 
another without the presence of a man to lead their devotions, 
now importuned him to bring his family to the settlement and 
remain to aid in sustaining religious services. Deeming this 
an indication of Providence, Mr. Tyler relinquished his inten- 
tion of going farther west, and returned to Vermont. In the 
fall of that year he came with his wife and nine children, all 
girls but one, Moses C, late associate judge; and was accom- 
panied by Samuel Davis and his family, which was also large, 
and all his children, but one, were boys. The party came in via 
Great Bend. Mr. Edward Fuller happening there on business, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 305 

met them, and hastened home with the joyful news, " Moses 
and the children of Israel are coming through the wilderness." 

Mr. Tyler stayed with all his family at the house of Stephen 
Wilson until he finished a log-house on what is now the Jessup 
farm, not far from the old brick-yard. He bought of the Penn- 
sylvania landholder, J. B. Wallace. Afterwards, when the 
county was set off, the lands donated to it covered part of his 
tract. He received some indemnity for his improvements, and 
removed to the farm in Dimock which is now owned by John 
Wright. He moved back some years later, near his old loca- 
tion, to a small house that occupied the site of Dr. J. Black- 
man's present residence. Later, he resided again on a farm, 
just south of Stephen Wilson's old place, until his last removal 
to the home of his son, in Montrose. He was a deacon of the 
Presbyterian church many years. He died April, 1854, aged 
eighty-eight ; Mrs. T. in 1856, over eighty. They had twelve 
children. While living by the brick-yard (then only a swamp), 
Mrs. Tyler went to visit Mrs. Wheaton, when she met a bear, 
sitting on his haunches and staring her in the face. She screamed 
and struck the brushwood, when the bear turned and walked 
quietly away, and she proceeded on her errand. The young 
men at Wheaton's were hunters, and, on hearing her story, 
they went in pursuit of the bear and dispatched him. 

Mrs. Porter, a daughter of Jonathan Wheaton, taught the 
first school near the house of Stephen Wilson, in April, 1809. 
She had six scholars so young that they were obliged to have 
blankets on which to take their naps. In the winter of 1809 
and 1810, the school was taught by J. W. Eaynsford. 

Samuel Davis built his log-cabin on a part of the farm of 
Phineas Arms, near the present north line of Dimock, and 
which is now owned by F. Wells. 

Phineas Arms came in the spring of 1809. A few years 
later he left his place to be gate-keeper on the Wilkes-Barre 
turnpike, near Benj. Lathrop, leaving his place to his son 
Phineas. He was one of the first deacons of the Presbyterian 
church. He removed to Bradford County in 1838. 

Phineas Warner settled on the North road in 1809. 

Obadiah Green was on the northwest part of Isaac Post's old 
village farm, where he made a little clearing, and was connected 
with the first ashery on the stream below Sayre's old ashery. 
He was afterwards on the Jos. Watrous farm. He was born in 
West Greenwich, Kings County, E. I., Feb. 5, 1772, and died 
in Auburn, Susquehanna County, Oct. 17, 1860, aged eighty- 
eight years. 

Edmund Stone, prior to March, 1809, was on the Kingsley 
farm. A few years later, when Mrs. Stone was returning through 
the woods from a meeting at the South school-house, on horse- 
20 



306 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

back, a panther leaped for the child she held in her arms, but, 
missing his aim, passed over the horse's head. Mr. Stone's 
death, in 1814, was the first that occurred among the members 
of the Presbyterian church. 

Adrian and Caleb Bush, and Joseph Beebe, purchased lands 
near Montrose about 1809-12 ; their descendants still reside in 
the vicinity. 

In June, 1809, Elder D. Dimock removed from Exeter to 
Bridgewater, with his wife and five children, all on horse- 
back, five horses accommodating the family ; while a cart load 
of goods for them was brought in by A. Hinds. Br. R. H. 
Rose had given him, as the first pastor of a church on his lands, 
one hundred acres, and the church gave him one hundred more, 
on the North road ; and he occupied this place until June, 1815, 
when he removed to the hill on the same road, overlooking the 
village ; and his eldest daughter with her husband, Nehemiah 
Scott, occupied his first location. Elder D. was accustomed to 
relate with glee that for his first marriage fee he received a 
bunch of goose quills. Before detailing further account of his 
life here, we return to a sketch of his previous career, given in 
the discourse to which reference has already been made: — 

" Elder Davis Dimock was born at Rocky Hill, Hartford County, Conn., May 
27th, 1776. His parents were David and Sarah Green Dimock. His father 
at the opening of the Revolutionary war entered the service first as a ser- 
geant, and afterwards as lieutenant of the Continental army. 

" He, with his mother and three brothers, on the opening of the war, were 
taken as a measure of safety into Vermont. 

" At the close of the war the family returned to Connecticut, and resided 
at Norfolk until the year 1790, when with the tide of emigration from Con- 
necticut they came into the Wyoming Valley, and settled at Wilkes-Barre. 

'■The subject of this sketch was then fourteen years of age. 

" To a compact, symmetrical, and truly admirable physical organism, there 
was added a pleasing personal address. To an extremely social nature there 
was added an almost unbounded and attractive humor. To a quick percep- 
tion of the relation of things, and the workings of human nature, there was 
added an ambition that knew no bounds but those of patriotism and honor. 
And to a heart unsanctitied by the Divine Spirit, and that had come to drink 
in, quite deeply, infidelity to Christ and the Bible, there was added a pur- 
pose to gain and enjoy as much as possible of the world's pleasures, riches, 
and honors. 

"With these developments he labored on the farm and in the workshop; 
improved the scanty opportunities in his reach to gain knowledge by attend- 
ing and teaching common schools ; and was active in all of the political and 
other gatherings of the people. All seemed bright before him. 

" On the 5th of June, 1797, he was united in marriage to Betsey Jenkins, of 
Tuukhannock, who became the mother of his twelve children, and the beloved 
and faithful partner of his toils and privations, as well as his hopes and en- 
joyments, during fifty-five years of his earthly pilgrimage. 

" In 1801, while living in Exeter with his young family, toiling for and 
rapidly acquiring wealth — carrying on at the same time the business of farm- 
ing, blacksmithing, and distilling ardent spirits — he was arrested in his career, 
and by the power of divine Grace his proud heart was made to yield to the 





<3>cA^/ 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 307 

requirements of the law of faith in an atoning sacrifice, and changed at once 
all of the plans and purposes of his life. 

"He was received and baptized into the Exeter Baptist church, August 
9th, 1801, b3 r Eld. Jacob Drake, the pioneer Baptist minister of the valley. 
Heeding the great commission which seemed directed to him — ' Go ye into 
ull the world and preach the gospel to every creature,' turning back upon 
place proffered in legislative halls, he commenced preaching that Jesus 
whom he had persecuted, and that resurrection which, in the scepticism of 
his heart, he had repudiated. His first sermon was blessed by the divine 
Spirit in leading his companion to embrace Christ as her only hope. 

'• In 1803, at the yearly meeting of the Apocalyptic number of Baptist 
churches, then called the Susquehanna Baptist Connection, he wa3 formally 
ordained to the ministry, by the imposition of the hands of the elders, and 
soon came to occupy a prominence which made him the master spirit of the 
Connection. 

"The incident connected with his call to Bridgewater has already been 
given. Upon his settlement he engaged earnestly in ministerial work. 

" In 1810, under his labors, occurred what was afterwards known as ' the 
great revival,' in which fifty-two, mostly by baptism, were added to the num- 
ber of the church. The influence spread into the settlement from fifteen to 
twenty miles around, and he followed it up with an energy and zeal that knew 
no bounds but impossibilities. Often might he have been seen, on his horse, 
threading his way from settlement to settlement, along forest paths, over 
hills, and through valleys, sometimes guided only by marked trees. Here or 
there, where he found a hut or log cabin, he was wont to stop, if but for a 
moment, to minister a word of admonition or cheer to its sinning, sick, or 
disconsolate inhabitants. He soon came to be everywhere known, and a 
welcome visitor. 

" He had studied medicine in his earlier years; and on coming here when 
there was no physician, his medical services were often required and given. 
Finding it an aid rather than detriment to his gospel ministry, he continued 
more or less to practice successfully during subsequent life. 

"Not deeming it inconsistent with his ministerial office, nor an infringe- 
ment upon his pastoral duties, he accepted, through the general solicitation 
of his fellow citizens, from the hands of the governor, an appointment of 
associate judge of the then new county of Susquehanna. In this capacity he 
served successfully and honorably, from the time of the organization of the 
judiciary, during the term of twenty-seven years. 

" He organized churches in Auburn, Bush, Middletown, Choconut, Great 
Bend, Harford, New Milford, Jackson, Gibson, Dimock, and possibly else- 
where. 

"Eld. Dimock was the sole pastor of the Bridgewater church, from its 
organization in 1808, down to June, 1835, a term of twenty-seven years. At 
the close of that period, notwithstanding deaths and removals, the church 
numbered 322 members. 

" At the expiration of his sole pastorate of the church, by his own request, 
Eld. J. B. Worden became associated with him. This relation continued 
two years ; when from the infirmities of age and disease, and a desire to 
retire from the exciting scenes of a new era in the church, he resigned his 
relation, took a letter from this, and united with the church at Braintrim, 
having previously received a call to become its pastor. As pastor of that 
church, he labored, according to the measure of his health and strength, 
witnessing many tokens that those labors were not in vain, until the fall of 
1847, when admonished by physicians, and his personal consciousness of what 
a long life of labor and privation, as well as disease, had wrought upon his 
wonderful constitution, he resigned the pastorate to another. 

" In the spring of 1848, he returned with his companion to Montrose to 
reside the remainder of his days with his children. He reunited with this 



308 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

church and supplied occasionally its pulpit ; lived to enjoy and deepen the 
interest of its semi-centennial anniversary," 

Mrs. Dimock died December 1st, 1852, aged 72. Elder 
Dimock died September 27th, 1858, aged 82 years and 4 
months. 

They had twelve children, two of whom died in infancy ; 
three daughters married and settled in the vicinity, and one 
died young. Of their sons who lived to adult age — Benjamin, 
Davis, Asa G., John H., David and Gordon Z. — only two are 
now living. 

Hon. Davis Dimock, Jr., was an early editor in the county, 
and a politician of influence. He died while a member of 
Congress, January, 1842. 

Jonathan Vaughn, from Arlington, Vt., settled in Bridge- 
water, February 18, 1810, but had visited this section the pre- 
vious year. From a short diary kept by him, we have the 
following items: — 

1810. — February 24, sap free; April 21, apple trees with leaves; May 1, 
Daniel Austin and Chapman Carr came ; went to the mouth of the Wyalus- 
ing and one and a half miles below to Stalford's for wheat ; meeting on 
Sabbath " out at Wilson's," and at Eld. Dimock's ; September, helped Mr. 
Warner at a logging bee ; November, many inquiring the way to Zion. 

1811. — January, conference meeting at Mr. Samuel Scott's; singing-school 
by James Burch ; February, went twice in one week to Lathrop's mills after 
boards for the school-house ; June, married Lydia Avery ; October, four of us 
pulled one hundred bushels of turnips. 

1811.— July, a Mr. Nelson, missionary, preached in our school-house ; 6th, 
militia election at Isaac Post's, and a noisy time it was ; December 27, Che- 
nango turnpike laid out through the settlement across my land. 

1812. — January 30, sap run some. [Caleb Bush and Matthew Baldwin are 
mentioned. At a later date he enters : " Split 260 rails and left off before 
night."] 

Jonathan Vaughn died in 1869, aged ninety. 

Dr. Eose gave ten acres of land on which to erect a school- 
house. The first one built of logs, was on the old road (long 
since vacated), about half-way between Thomas Scott's and Scott 
Baldwin's, who were about two and a half miles apart. The 
next school-house was built near Scott Baldwin's. Beginning at 
the foot of "Brewster's Hill," the settlers on the west side of the 
road in 1810, were in the following order: Simeon Tyler, Scott 
Baldwin, David Dimock, Simeon Cook, Jonathan Vaughn, and 
Thomas Scott. (Henry (Jongdon was a little off from the road.) 

On the east side there were: Nathan Brewster, Samuel Bald- 
win, Phineas Warner, Eichard Daniels, Asa Baldwin, Samuel 
Scott, and Benjamin Fancher. 

Jared Clark purchased, in 1812, the lot next above Asa 
Baldwin. 

The north and south roads were well settled, while in the 
direction of New Milford, and of Heart Lake, all was yet a 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 309 

dense forest, with the exception of the clearing of Nathaniel 
Curtis, who was alone for nearly four years. 

In 1810, Hugh and Alexander McCollum, brothers, from 
Duanesburgh, N. Y., located in his vicinity; Alexander occupied 
" the Fields farm," now owned by L. Gardner. 

Tn 1811, Cornelius Wood, also from near Albany, N. Y. ; 
Solomon Simmons and family, from Connecticut, and Samuel 
and Abraham Chamberlin, from Greene County, New York; in 
1812, Charles Trumbull, and in 1814, Walter Stewart from 
Duanesburg, New York, were added to the settlement. All 
were on the road leading from Brooklyn to New Milford and 
on roads just west of it, or on that leading from Heart Lake to 
Montrose, forming a triangle. 

Very soon after, Lemuel Beebe and Ebenezer Williams from 
Connecticut, and Abraham E. Kennard and Joseph Guernsey 
from Windsor, New York, settled here, and Ezra Kingsley, who 
in 1832 went with the Mormons. 

Of the heads of the foregoing dozen families — constituting 
"the Curtis neighborhood" — all are now deceased. 

There are but two families of the name of Curtis remaining 
in the neighborhood, viz., Cornelius J. and the family of 
Joshua W., both sons of Nathaniel Curtis, Jr. The former 
owns and occupies the farm that his grandfather and father 
took up when it was a wilderness. The other sons of Nathaniel, 
Jr., were Anson, a physician of some eminence in Pittston, 
Luzerne County, who died in 1855, and Gaylord, now a banker 
at Susquehanna Depot. N. Curtis, Jr., died May, 1850. 

Harvey Curtis built the first grist-mill on the outlet of Heart 
Lake, in 1823. The present one, owned by J. L. Griffing, was 
built by Grant and Hammond, in 1842. 

Alexander McCollum left his farm in Bridgewater, over 
thirty years ago, and lived some years in New Milford. He 
died at Lanesboro', April 1, 1871, in his ninety-second year — 
the last of the east neighborhood pioneers. His sons were five: 
John, Hugh, George, Alexander, and Peter. 

Hugh McCollum, 1st, and family, with the exception of one 
son, Daniel, moved to Wisconsin in 1814. Daniel McCollum, 
and John, son of Alexander, remain in Bridgewater; Hugh 
McCollum, 2d, is in Montrose. 

Of the sons of Solomon Simmons, Julius, Charles, Solomon, 
Harly, and Garry, went to Illinois, and all are now dead but 
Charles. 

Solomon, Jr., once cut a slender branch from an American 
willow at Towanda, used it as a cane while walking home, then 
stuck it into the ground near the house, and it now flourishes 
as a large tree that marks the site of his father's log cabin, near 



310 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the present toll-gate, on the farm of N. Passmore. (There was 
once a beaver dam near Passmore's present brick-kiln.) 

Ira, son of Solomon Simmons, resided in Bridgewater and 
New Milford until his death. 

The oldest child of Solomon Simmons, Sen., Mrs. Luther 
Catlin, the only one of the family who remained in the town- 
ship, died October 25, 1872, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. 

Luther Catlin came from Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 
1812, and located near his cousin, Putnam Catlin, in what is 
now Brooklyn ; but soon after came to the place now occupied 
by Bobert Kent, and made the first clearing there. He removed 
after a time to the present location of John Reynolds, on the 
Meshoppen ; but, about forty years ago, he came to the farm, 
previously occupied by a Mr. Matteson, where he now resides 
with his son. Martin L. Two of bis sons located at the West. 

Erastus Catlin, brother of Luther, made the first clearing on 
the Harrington farm. He removed to Dundaff, and afterwards 
to Pitcher, N. Y., where he died. The only representative of 
his family in the county is Mrs. Abel Turrell. 

Ebeneaer Williams went to Illinois in 1837; Alonzo L. 
Kennard, to Iowa; William, son of Samuel Chamberlin, and 
Lewis B., son of Abraham Chamberlin remained in the town- 
ship. Israel Chamberlin, who recently murdered his wife and 
then committed suicide, was the son of Samuel. 

Others of the pioneers here are represented by John Trum- 
bull, Daniel Stewart, Levi Guernsey, John and Peleg Wood — 
all substantial farmers. The last two are sons of Cornelius 
Wood, who had four others, viz., Jonathan, Eseck (in Illinois), 
Ezra, and Ira, now removed. 

Ezekiel G. Babcock came to the county (possibly later to this 
neighborhood), about 1812. 

It is remarked that there is a striking contrast in the char- 
acter and success in life of the families of the pioneers in this 
section ; those who were taught to reverence the Sabbath seem 
to be prosperous, while those who disregarded it are the 
reverse. 

The plank road, or its later substitute, has proved of immense 
service to East Bridgewater ; the farmers send over it large 
quantities of butter every season to Montrose Depot, for the 
New York markets. At its junction with the road to Brooklyn, 
the East Bridgewater post-office was established in 1868. 

In early times the mills of this and adjoining townships would 
often lack water, and farmers were obliged to go to Windsor, 
twenty-six miles, with their grain. 

Timothy Brown, from Connecticut, and Samuel Parmeter, 
from the Mohawk, were early settlers on the farms now owned 
by Elijah Brown and Andrus Aldrich. Joseph and William 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 311 

Darrow were early on the farms now owned by Messrs. Shu- 
felts and J. F. Gardiner. 

Jonah Brewster, brother of Nathan, located in 1812, near the 
present farm of Joseph Watrous. His house is still standing, 
being the first one on the road leading to Brooklyn. He was 
much interested in politics, and once represented this section 
in the State Legislature. He had five wives (one of whom was 
a sister of Hon. William Jessup) and ten children. He left 
Susquehanna County about 1830, and went to Tioga County, 
where he engaged in the mercantile business. Was appointed 
to the judgeship to fill a vacancy, and removed to Wellsboro', 
where he died about 1858, aged seventy-eight. 

James W. Hill, afterwards justice of the peace, settled in 
Bridgewater, in 1812, and cleared a farm, where he resided 
until his death in 1853, at the age of sixty-three. He and 
Eeuben Reynolds occupied a log-house together for a time. 

Joseph Butterfield, who settled in Forest Lake in 1801, re- 
moved in 1812, to the Samuel Main farm in Bridgewater, where 
he died in 1848, aged seventy ; Mrs. B. died about ten years 
later. Their sons, Oliver, Alanson, and Joseph are all dead. 

The vicinity of Williams' Pond echoed to the ring of the 
woodman's ax about the same time with the east neighborhood. 

Joseph Williams and Jarah Stephens (his father-in-law) came 
together from Pierstown, Otsego County, New York, and lo- 
cated their lands in 1809; but returned to their families for the 
winter. In the spring of 1810, they came again, and made a 
clearing, and, with the help of men from Great Bend, rolled up 
a log-house. Mr. Stephens was left to finish it, while Mr. 
Williams went for his family, who returned with him, May, 
1810, accompanied also by Philander, son of Jarah Stephens. 
Mrs. Williams and her children, Orin and Frederick (the latter 
born the preceding January), came to the house when it was< 
but half shingled and floored, and when a blanket served for 
the door, and while in this unprotected condition, heard in the 
night the tread of a wild animal on the roof, which, by its 
tracks, was afterwards ascertained to have been a panther. 
Their daughter, Mrs. A. L. Post, was born here, the framed 
house (still standing) not being erected until 1823. Mrs. Elea- 
nor Williams died in 1827. 

Jarah and Philander Stephens brought their families in 1811. 
The former was a captain in the Revolutionary army ; he died 
here December, 1821 ; the latter removed to Dimock. 

Daniel Foster, who came in 1812 from Vermont, and settled 
on the road to New Milford, near Williams' Pond, formed the 
fourth of that name then in the township, including Montrose, 
between whom there existed no relation. He was on the top 



312 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of the hill ; James Stephens cleared the farm beyond, lately 
occupied by Otis Bullard. 

William Stephens occupied what has since been known as 
Timothy Warner's place; Nathan Shipman, William Salmon, 
John, James, and Luther Snow, and Stephen Webb, were set- 
tlers on the Snake Creek about 1812. Luther Peck, Gideon 
Southworth, from Connecticut, Andrew Young, and perhaps 
others, were in the vicinity about 1814. 

Bela Jones came from Colchester, New London Count} 1 -, 
Connecticut, May, 1810, and lived for a time with Isaac Post 
in the first building he put up. On June 7th, 1811, he cut the 
first tree on his farm, one mile from Montrose. In 1813, he 
cut floor boards and small timber for the court-house. In 1815 
he was town clerk. In the winter of 1818-19 he assisted Wil- 
liam Jessup in teaching the first school in the old academy ; 
both being in the lower rooms. In 1820, he took the census 
for Susquehanna County. In 1833-1835 he honorably repre- 
sented the county in the State Legislature. Few names occur 
more frequently than his as chairman of political meetings of 
the old democratic school. He resided nearly forty years on 
the northern shore of the lake which is still known as Jones' 
Lake. 

Here, in 1814, he erected a carding-machine. A description 
of the effort required to accomplish this, was recently given by 
J. Backus in the 'Montrose Republican.' 

''Bela Jones, Esq., and myself proposed to set up a carding-machine at 
the outlet of Jones' Lake. Taking my knapsack of provisions, I started on 
foot for Otsego County, New York, distant about one hundred miles, where 
machines were being manufactured; purchased a single machine, and set 
about finding means of transportation. 

" An acquaintance told me he had a skiff in the river somewhere below, 
and if I could find it I might take it for that purpose. I hired a teamster to 
carry my machine to a place designated, in the neighborhood of what was 
then known as Collier's tavern, some miles above Wattles' ferry, where I 
found the skiff, bottom upwards, with its seams so opened by the sun as to 
cause it to be very leaky. However, I procured some tow and tar, and pro- 
ceeded to calk and fit my craft for the voyage. I succeeded, and, loading, I 
set sail. Landing at night, and putting up with a settler along the bank, I 
reached Great Bend in safety, deposited my freight in DuBois's shed, and 
came home. At that time it was much more difficult to get teaming done 
than now; but Capt. Abinoam Hinds, a very kind, obliging man, went with 
me on Saturday, to bring the machine, and such was the condition of the 
roads that we failed to reach our destination till long after dark ; so we de- 
tached the horses, came into town, put them in Austin Howell's shed, and 
the captain led the way into the chamber of the house, and we retired for 
the night. Starting early, before any one was stirring, we unloaded, and 
returned home without disturbing the community. 

" I will describe the locality of our machinery : Across the stream, a short 
distance below the outlet, we felled a couple of trees for the foundation of 
the building ; erected a small frame, put the machine in operation, and find- 
ing business accumulating, we concluded to manufacture a single machine 
ourselves; but where was the foundry to do our casting? That must be 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY 313 

started; so a Mr. Perkins, a very ingenious mechanic, being with us, estab- 
lished a water blast ; but where was the metal ? I canvassed far and near 
for broken iron ware, and we succeeded in our endeavors. 

"Let any one bear in mind the means and mode of travel, and of doing 
business, and then step into Sayre's foundry, in Montrose, Mott's cloth 
factory, in Bridgewater, or Wright's cloth factory, in Forest Lake, and 
behold the contrast." 

With only such facilities, it can hardly be supposed that this, 
or the saw-mill and grist-mill he erected here about the same 
time, were the best of their kind ; but they served the com- 
munity many years. 

Bela Jones removed a few years since to Liberty, and kept 
the "Valley House" — noted for its generous cheer. He mar- 
ried a sister of Nathan Brewster ; of their children, three 
daughters reside in the county, but their only son died young. 
Mr. Jones died March 9, 1872, in the eighty-second year of 
his age. 

Amos Nichols came to Bridgewater in 1810. The following 
statement appears in Kev. A. L. Post's 'Historical Discourse.' 

"While there is a history of the church, the names of Deacon Amos 
Nichols and Amindwell, his wife, must have a prominent place. Taking 
into account their ability and means we shall have to seek long to find those 
who have accomplished an equal amount of good. They were received into 
the church on letters from the Baptist church in Salisbury, N. Y., March 
18, 1810. In November following, he was ordained the first deacon of the 
Bridgewater Baptist church." 

He died in New Milford July, 1845, at the house of his son- 
in-law, Secku Meylert, in the seventy-second year of his age. 
Mrs. Nichols had died in Bridgewater the year previous. 

Dr. James Cook, the first regularly educated physician in the 
town, located about this time across the Wyalusing Creek, 
opposite Stephen Wilson. He practiced here several years, 
and then removed to Spencer, N. Y. 

Josiah Mills came to Bridgewater in 1811, and settled near 
C. Hinds' last location. He was born in Eoxbury, Massachu- 
setts, October 7, 1763. In his fourteenth year, then a homeless 
orphan, he enlisted in the Eevolutionary army as a drummer. 
After a year's service, he exchanged his drum for a musket, 
which he carried to the close of the war, receiving an honor- 
able discharge. He was at the battle of White Plains ; was 
with Gates at Stillwater and Saratoga, assisting at the capture 
of Burgoyne ; was also with Washington at Trenton and 
Princeton, and endured the terrible sufferings of the march 
through the Jerseys, and the fearful winter at Valley Forge. 
He was also permitted to share in the glorious triumph of the 
federal armies at Yorktown. In after years he received a pen- 
sion. 

Soon after the war he emigrated, with his young wife, to the 



314 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

wilds of Maine, and was one of the first settlers of the town 
of Joy, Oxford County, where he remained until his removal 
to Susquehanna County. 

He had received, in 1804, a commission as captain, from 
Governor Caleb Strong, of Massachusetts — Maine then being a 
province of that State. 

In 1812, he married, for his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter 
of Elder Samuel Sturdevant, of Braintrim. 

In 1817, Captain Mills settled on a farm two and a half miles 
west of Montrose, on which he lived until his death, March 23, 
1833, in his seventieth year. His widow died in Montrose, 
September, 1841. 

One child, Bartlet Hinds Mills, formerly an editor and mer- 
chant in Montrose, has been a resident of Upper Alton, Illinois, 
since 1854. 

In a recent letter, he says: "Often have I heard my father 
speak of the three African regiments in the Revolutionary war, 
officered by white men, and of the gallant and effective service 
they rendered ; and, in connection with this, he would denounce 
the system of American slavery as something abhorrent, utterly 
at variance with the principles he had suffered to maintain." 

Samuel Gregory, who had been with his father in what is 
now Herrick at an early day, came from Mt. Pleasant late in 
1811, and settled half a mile south of Montrose. His family 
then consisted of his wife, one son, and two daughters ; another 
son and four daughters were born here. 

The two sons, Rufus B., a graduate of Union College, and 
a young lawyer of great promise, and Asa, a graduate of West 
Point Military Academy, and a lieutenant of the regular army, 
died in Florida. Rufus was the hero boy of thirteen years, of 
whom mention was made, in our county paper, as having, 
while on a squirrel hunt, encountered and killed a large bear. 

Mr. Grregory died June, 1850, aged sixty-five. He had twice 
been sheriff of the county, and is spoken of as a bold and 
efficient officer. 

A storv is told of his serving a writ of ejectment, when he 
knew the inmates of the house were prepared to eject him 
with hot water. He managed to elude being seen, and entered 
the loft of the house through a window, and raised a board of 
the chamber floor. The hot water did not then prevent his 
serving the writ. 

Mrs. G. had marked characteristics. Without the least osten- 
tation or affectation, she possessed a quaintness and good humor 
which was peculiarly attractive. She was a sufferer from ill 
health many years, and died, in 1869, when within three days 
of her eighty-sixth birth-day. 

Dr. Asa Park, a native of Preston, Connecticut, who had 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 315 

located in Mt. Pleasant, in 1806, and had married, in 1808, Lo- 
rana, sister of Samuel Gregory, came with the latter to the 
vicinity of Montrose. The two families, at first, occupied the 
house vacated by Samuel Cogswell, who had sold his farm to 
Dr. Park. 

Dr. P.'s practice began here in January, 1812, and became 
extensive and lucrative, but was relinquished to his son, Ezra 
S., after about thirty years. Mrs. P. died in October, 1845, and 
Dr. Park in January, 1854, aged sevent} r -one. They were 
buried on their farm, as were also Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, and 
other relatives of the family. 

Dr. Ezra S. Park practiced here about twenty-five years, and 
removed to the West in 1858. He was an infant when his pa- 
rents left Mt. P. They had lost two children. Two sons, Hiram 
and Asa, and four daughters were born here. Hiram moved 
West in 1836, and died in 1838. The daughters all married 
here; two are dead, one resides in Montrose, and one upon the 
old homestead. Asa was a volunteer in a New York regiment, 
and was killed at the first battle of Bull Eun. 

Isaac Bullard, a Revolutionary soldier, settled, in 1812, where 
James Bunnell lives (now Dimock), but after a time removed 
to the late location of his son, Hezekiah, in the south neigh- 
borhood. He died in 1842, aged ninety-seven. Of his sons, 
Elijah, the eldest, is now living in Montrose, over eighty years 
of age ; Hezekiah and Otis have died recently, aged respective- 
ly seventy-nine and seventy-seven. 

Of later settlers only a few notices can be given. 

Robert Eldridge, a native of Connecticut, came from Lewis 
County, N. Y., in 1814, and located on the farm first taken up 
by Elias West, and occupied, for a time, by Samuel Kellum, 
brother-in-law of Mr. E. James Eldridge, father of Robert, 
died here in 1841, in his eighty-eighth year. After living 
here about thirty years, Robert removed to Brooklyn, where 
he died in 1861, aged eighty. Of his sons, James has since 
occupied the old homestead, but now resides in Owego, N. Y. ; 
Orlando is in Brooklyn. Of his five children, Mrs. C. Cush- 
man is the only one in the county. 

Jeremiah Etheridge came from New London, Conn., in the 
spring of 1815, and was the first cabinet-maker in the south 
neighborhood. He returned to Connecticut, in the fall, to be 
married, and in October he and his bride began housekeeping 
in the house vacated by Edward Fuller, near the south line of 
the township. A few months later, he built on the corner 
below Deacon Deans'. 

Mr. Etheridge removed to Montrose in 1818, and occupied, at 
first, the small, low building in the rear of the present residence 
of Mrs. E. There was not then a neighbor on Turnpike Street, 



316 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

above where. M. S. Wilson now lives. Mr. E. died in 1866, 
aged seventy-five. His only son, Isaac L., died when a young 
man, about twenty-five years previous. 

Samuel Warner came, about 1815, to Conrad Hinds' first 
location in the north neighborhood. He was an earnest tem- 
perance and anti-slavery advocate. He died in September, 
1848. 

Ebenezer Sprout, from Hampshire Co., Mass., came with his 
wife, in 1816, to the farm they occupied near Montrose, until 
1862, when they removed to Lycoming County. They reared 
a large family. He died January, 1871, in his eighty-fourth 
year. 

Amos Burrows came to the east neighborhood in 1817. 

David Bushnell, a native of Connecticut, came to Bridge- 
water, from Greene County, N. Y., as early as 1816, and pur- 
chased the farm now occupied by Matthew Baldwin. He 
brought his family in the spring of 1819. Five years later, he 
was obliged, while building a barn, to pay a bushel of oats for 
every pound of nails he used. In 1829, he came to the farm 
on the east line of Montrose, where he lived ten years. While 
here, he joined the Presbyterian church by profession of faith. 
Upon leaving Montrose, he spent two years in Bradford County 
before locating in Auburn, where he died April 5, 1872, aged 
eighty-six. 

Joseph W.Parker was born in Saybrook. Conn., April 20, 1797. 
He removed to Bridgewater in 1816; was baptized by Elder D. 
Dimock, in 1818, when twenty-one years of age; was licensed 
June 10, 1826 ; and was ordained May 13, 1829. A considera- 
ble portion of his life was spent as a missionary under the 
patronage of the New York Baptist State Convention, princi- 
pally in the counties of Susquehanna, Wyoming, Luzerne, and 
Bradford, where he assisted in organizing several churches, 
and baptized 602 professed believers, of whom seven entered 
the ministry. He was a faithful, persevering, good man, whose 
ministry covered almost forty years. He died near Montrose, 
April 9, 1866. Mrs. Parker died in Binghamton, December, 
1870, in her seventy-third year. 

About 1818, Cyrus Cheevers, a native of Massachusetts, 
came from Harford to the place afterwards known as Mr. Lil- 
lie's, on the Wilkes-Barre turnpike, where the gate was last 
kept, and where he built the house still standing. Mrs. C. 
died in Bridgewater, July, 1870, in the ninety-first year of her 
age. She united with the Baptist church of Attleborough, 
Mass., in 1802. 

Orin Clemons and Henry Patrick, later settlers, were located 
in the vicinity of Montrose over forty years. They and their 
wives have since deceased. 




M. A.BLACKMAN 

184-0 






M. A. BLACK MAN 

18 4-0 



MONTROSE GREEN. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



317 



Twenty years after Stephen Wilson made his clearing, the 
township was quite well settled. His farm was occupied, in 
1819, by Elizur and Demmon Price ; when they left, it passed 
into the hands of Messrs. Park, Gregory, and D. Post. 

The customs of the people at this time were, in some re- 
spects singular. Apple-bees were common, with mince-pies, 
doughnuts, and sled riding as accompaniments. A couple 
would go to a justice of the peace to be married, on horse- 
back, the lady riding on a pillion behind her lover. 



MONTROSE. 

Capt. B. Hinds and Dr. R. H. Rose were friends.. They 
agreed to name, each for the other, their places of residence. 
The former named Silver Lake, and the latter Montrose, after a 
town in Scotland. 

The site of the court-house was fixed by Commissioners 
Butler, Sutton, and Dorrance, of Wyoming Valley, in 1811. 

Prom this period, the population and interest of the town- 
ship centered in Montrose. A village plot was surveyed in 
1812; its area was but 112 by 139 perches. Singularly enough, 
it did not include the first location of Bartlet Hinds, the south 
line being the road just above it, now leading to the cemetery. 

Fi<?. 21. 




SUCCESSIVE BOROUGH LIMITS OF MONTROSE. 

In the diagram, the original borough, including 126 by 162 
perches, is in heavy lines. The north line passed across the site 



818 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of D. E. Lathrop's present residence ; the east line did not in- 
clude the site of the present residence of E. C. Fordhara, nor 
the west line that of E. Bacon. 

The first extension added forty perches to the southwest side. 
-It included the house of D. Post, Esq., but not the site of Mrs. 
H. Drinker's. The second extension (in 1853), added twenty 
perches on the northwest and northeast, thirty perches on the 
southeast, and fifty-two on the southwest. It took in the 
houses of Walter Foster and E. Bullard, and the row of houses 
on Turnpike Street, from Mrs. J. C. Biddle to the Methodist 
church, but did not include the farm-house of Wm. Jessup, or 
the late residence of J. T. Langdon ; the northeast line passed 
through the residence of S. Bard. The borough was then 
three-fourths of a mile in length by a little less in width. 

In 1864, it was extended by town council to one mile square, 
due east and west, by north and south, the centre being a little 
south of Sayre Bros.' foundry. It then included the houses in 
the vicinity of Gen. Warner, but it was found not to extend far 
enough west to include all who wished to come in, and the 
next year the extension was confirmed by the legislature, with 
eighty perches more added on the west. The center of the 
borough is now about on the east line of "the Green," between 
M. C. Tyler's corner and the residence of C. M. Gere. The 
borough includes the source of the Wyalusing, near the plank 
road, and extends east nearly to "the Dunn house," north, nearly 
to the residence of O. S. Beebe; and west, so as to include the 
farm buildings of J. S. Tarbell. 

When the act of legislature was passed in 1810, setting off 
Susquehanna from Luzerne, the tavern of Isaac Post, the small 
house of David Post under Cemetery Hill, and the log-house of 
B. Hinds, were the only residences in what is now Montrose. 
During that year, Jabez Frink, Sen., had a log-house opposite 
the present Baptist church, and carried on blacksmithing for 
Isaac Post in a shop just west of Wm. Foster's present resi- 
dence. A horse-shed was on the corner where the post-office 
has recently been placed upon the foundation of the first brick 
building erected in the town. A new barn, roofed but not com- 
pleted, stood on the site of Wm. H. Cooper's banking-house, 
and years later was in its rear. This was all of Montrose when 
it was chosen as the county-seat. Mr. Frink afterwards owned 
the farm now Mrs. A. Butterfield's. His sons Jabez and George 
were later blacksmiths here. Eufus, brother of Jabez Frink, 
Sen., and father of Avery Frink, now of Montrose, came early, 
and afterwards occupied the site of the present residence of 
Wm. J. Mulford, where he died. 

About 1811, Isaac Post erected a store on the site of the 
building now occupied by J. R. Dewitt & Co. It was a low 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 319 

building, painted red — the first painted house in the township. 
Both sides of the road were then clear from the corners occupied 
by Mr. Post down to B. Hinds' house. 

Isaac P. Foster, the first tanner and currier in the place, came 
from South Hampton, Long Island, in 1811, and erected first the 
house afterwards occupied by B. T. Case, Esq., but soon after 
the old Keeler Hotel, and prepared his tanyard just back of it. 
The basement or cellar of this was the first place of confinement 
for breakers of the public peace; in it, also, Nehemiah Scott 
taught school when Eev. A. L. Post and playmates were learn- 
ing their A B C's. Mr. Foster afterwards had a store in this 
building. J. W. Eaynsford was in business with him, and upon 
closing up resigned to Mr. Foster the house he had built on the 
west line of the Green. Here Mr. F. lived until 1829, when he 
removed to Honesdale, where he still resides. 

Austin Howell came from the same place, early in 1812, and 
became associated in business with I. P. Foster. In November, 
1813, he raised his tavern sign, at the house he erected just 
below Mr. Foster, and which continued to be a public house 
after he built a private residence, for about forty years, kept 
by successive occupants, among whom were Edward Fuller and 
Stephen Hinds. The house was burned October, 1854. Its 
site is occupied by a low, long building used as a store-room by 
Smith Brothers. 

Mr. H. was elected and filled the office of sheriff for the sec- 
ond official term after the organization of the county. He was 
ever respected as a kind-hearted, honest, and upright man. He 
had married previous to coming here a sister of the late Hon. 
William Jessup. 

He removed to Eush about 1815, and afterwards to Jessup, 
where he died, in 1866, at the age of seventy-eight years. His 
last days were spent at the house of ex-Sheriff Howell, his son 
by a second marriage. 

William Foster, our present townsman, came in the spring of 
1812, from the same place as Messrs. Foster and Howell, and 
became their apprentice in the tanning business for six years. 
Two of his tanneries have been destroyed by fire, on the site of 
the present establishment of his son, Charles S. 

Francis Fordham, also from Long Island, in 1812, was the 
first hatter here. February 9th, 1813, he brought his bride 
from the same place, and their housekeeping was commenced 
over the hat-shop, which stood on the street in the north corner 
of H. F. Turrell's garden. He was afterwards engaged in 
various mercantile enterprises here, and had one of the first 
distilleries. Abraham Fordham, brother of the former, was the 
first cooper here. Both remained here to the close of life, both 



320 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

were old men when they left us, and descendants of their 
families are still among our business men. 

In the fall of 1812, Dr. Charles Fraser came from Great Bend 
to Montrose, having been elected to the offices of prothonotary, 
register, and recorder, etc. He first occupied a log-house a 
little north of the present Baptist parsonage, while he was 
building the house which his daughters now occupy. This was 
raised in May, 1813. He was afterwards elected senator for 
five counties, including Susquehanna, and, upon the close of 
his term of service, resumed the practice of medicine, and 
endeared himself to many. He died February 4th, 1834, aged 
54 years. Mrs. Fraser survived him thirty-six years, and died 
at the age of 85. They had four children ; the sons became 
lawyers, and the daughters teachers. Philip, the eldest son, is 
judge of the United States District Court of Florida, of which 
State he has been a resident for the last thirty years, remain- 
ing there throughout the late war, and maintaining his position 
as a Unionist. 

Rufus Bowman came in 1813, from Windsor, N. Y., and with 
his family occupied the log house vacated by Dr. Fraser, until 
he built a frame house on the spot now occupied by the store 
of Wra. J. Mulford. In its best days it served many families 
in succession, and now forms the front part of the residence of 
E. C. Fordham. He built also a small house (in which he died) 
on the corner now occupied by the residence of R. B. Little, 
Esq. ' He was a baker by trade, but here, at that time, every 
housekeeper made her own bread, and he was employed in the 
mason work on the first court-house, and on other buildings. 

After his death, in 1827, the family moved to the farm now 
occupied by M. L. Catlin. The children married and settled in 
different parts of the county ; two daughters were teachers here 
many years. Mrs. Bowman died in Jessup in 1856. 

In June, 1813, the first court-house was raised, in a new 
clearing, in which the blackened stumps were still standing; 
and even five years later they ornamented the west side of the 
public avenue. 

The first court had been held in the ball-room of I. Post's 
tavern. Mr. Post began to raise his house and store on the 
southwest corner of Main and Turnpike Streets, August 13th, 
following. As soon as he occupied it, Edward Fuller kept his 
public house for a year, before going into that of Austin 
Howell. 

George Claggett and Stephen Hinds came in August, 1813. 
Of the sons of the latter, L. B. Hinds of Susquehanna Depot, 
is the only one in the county. Loami is in Factoryville, Pa. 
David Post raised his large house in 1814. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTF. 321 

The first lawyers who located here were A. H. Read and B. 
T. Case, Esqs. — the former in 1814 and the latter in 1816. 

Nathan Raynor, merchant, came in 1815. He lived for a 
time with F. Fordham before commencing the house lately 
owned by Alfred Baldwin. 

Garner Isbell, a cabinet-maker, was here about this time. 

Dr. Mason Denison had been occupying a part of D. Post's 
house, some months, before raising in 1816 the rear of his own 
house, now the residence of J. R. Dewitt. 

Benjamin Sayre and S. S. Mulford, both natives of Long 
Island, established themselves as merchants here, in the fall of 
1816. Mr. S. came with his young wife from Greene Co., N. Y.; 
Mr. M. was then single. They resided in the rear and cham- 
bers of the store of Sayre & Mulford, which stood on the site 
of the present residence of Mrs. S. S. Mulford. The building 
was bought, a few years later, by Aaron Green, a tanner and 
shoemaker (and a Long Islander), and removed down the hill 
where it now forms a part of the house of C. M. Crandall. 

In 1816, a newspaper was established here, from. one of the 
first numbers of which the following item is taken, in refer- 
ence to the growth of Montrose : — 

" In the year 1812 the town of Montrose contained but two families. It 
now contains a court-house, prison, printing-office, leather factory, 2 shre- 
factories, hat-factory, cabinet-factory, chair-factory, druggist's, tailor's and 
two smithshops ; 3 physicians, 7 carpenters, 3 public inns, 5 stores, 28 
dwelling-houses (several more now building), and 18G inhabitants." 

Of the many houses being built in 1816 and 1817 were the 
following: — 

That of Eli Gregory, now Rev. B. Baldwin's; Daniel Greg- 
ory's, a small house that stood on M. C. Tyler's corner ;: 
Mrs. Clarissa Avery's, now belonging to her son Charles 
Avery, Esq. ; A. II. Read's next below, now C. M. Gere's ; Mr.. 
Mauger's, now occupied by H. H. Frazier, Esq.; Mr. Plum's,, 
now A. N. Bullard's, and the Silver Lake Bank, now the resi- 
dence of F. B. Chandler. This could just be seen through the 
thinned woods, from Mr. Sayre's house; Mr. Mauger's, though 
nearer, was wholly concealed by the dense woods in that direc- 
tion. 

Between the court-house and Post's tavern (then kept by C. 
Carr) there was only his barn, fronting on the west side of the- 
avenue. On the east side D. Curtis had built a tavern, and next 
below was the store of Sayre & Mulford, then R. Bowman's- 
house, and no other above the corner, where a low red house 
then stood, the rear of which was occupied by Justin Clark,, 
the editor of ' The Centinel.' The printing-house was oppo- 
site Howell's tavern. On Turnpike Street, Geo. Ciaggett, a 
tailor, had built the rear of M. S. Wilson's house, Alanson 
21 



322 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Coy, blacksmith, and Peter Brulte, hatter, were in the houses 
opposite, which are still standing. 

On Main Street there was no house on the east side above 
I. P. Foster's. Below him was the tavern Mr. Howell had left 
to occupy his new building, which was where Wm. W. Smith 
has since built, and which was the last house on that side. 
Opposite were D. Post's new and old houses, and north of 
them, Mr. Benedict's (first Orimel Deans' — its site is now covered 
by Miss E. Eose's house); B. T. Case's; Wm. Turrell in F. 
Fordham's first building; Herrick & Fordham's store, and Mr. 
F.'s residence under the same roof; and on the corner Isaac 
Post's house and store. Nathan Kaynor's house was near the 
site of the fork factory. The small house first built by Mr. 
Mauger had been moved, and now forms a part of Wm. L. 
Cox's house. Mr. Birchard, a carpenter engaged in building 
the bank, then lived in it. This was Montrose in 1817. 

Wm. Turrell, wife and two children, had come from Conn, 
in 1816, and lived a short time in the Benedict house, then re- 
moved to Auburn for a year. While there he brought a load 
of apples to Montrose — the first ever brought here from trees 
grown in the county. He then came and settled here perma- 
nently. He was the first saddler here. His eldest son, Wm. J., 
represented this district in the State Senate from 1862-65, and 
was elected speaker. 

In the year 1818, Montrose could boast of one weekly mail, 
brought on horseback from Great Bend by the post-boy, 
Leonard Searle. As he neared the village every Thursday, he 
announced his coming by a shrill blast from a tin horn, which 
usually hung from his saddle in readiness for this occasion. At 
this welcome sound there was an immediate rush for the post- 
office, then kept by Isaac Post in his tavern (to which he re- 
turned after it was vacated by C. Carr). 

S. S. Mulford boarded at Mr. Sayre's, and often brought 
from the office letters for the family. 

One day when he came in, he exclaimed, " Major Post says 
you ought to be satisfied this time, as you have the entire mail, 
seven letters and three papers," the aggregate of a whole week ! 
The New England settlers were not without their correspond- 
ents, even at 18f cents per letter, and this was an exceptional 
case; but it is amusing when taken in connection with the 
statement of our present postmaster, that an average of two 
hundred and fifty-eight letters are now received in a day. 

In 1819, Charles Catlin built the house on the corner near 
the court-house, and now the residence of H. J. Webb. Mr. 
C. was admitted to the bar of the county several years earlier, 
but had not previously resided here. 

The same year, Benjamin Sayre erected a dwelling-house on 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 823 

the lot next below, where for several years he kept the " Wash- 
ington Hotel." Afterwards it was his private residence until 
it was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1851. The generous 
hospitality bestowed here many have reason to remember. For 
the members of the Presbyterian church, of which he was a 
ruling elder, it was a place of frequent meeting for prayer or 
consultation. ; and much of that church's prosperity is due to his 
zeal and efforts. 

He was a native of Southampton, L. I., but came here from 
Cairo, N. Y., where he married Priscilla, daughter of Dea. Benj. 
Chapman. They had five daughters (of whom two died young) 
and three sons ; the latter are the proprietors of the Susque- 
hanna County Agricultural Works, Foundry, Steam Mill, &c, 
which contribute largely to the material interests of the place. 

Mr. Sayre died in August, 1858, in his 67th year. 

Silvanus Sandford Mulford was born August 20th, 1784, at Easthampton, 
L. I. The names of his ancestors are given among the founders of that 
Puritan community in 1643. He came to Montrose in 1816, and two years 
later was married to Fanny, daughter of Zebulon Jessup, of Southampton, 
L. I. He was one of the few merchants in the county whose business con- 
tinued without interruption nearly half a century. "He avoided public 
office, but he did not avoid public duties. In the path of unobtrusive life he 
sought only the fulfilment of the relations, citizen, father, and friend, which 
for him had a higher distinction than civil or social honor, and his life was 
marked by that integrity and equity which for him had the highest reverence." 

He had six sons and one daughter. Three sons, either separately or jointly, 
continued the business established by their father, until the recent death of 
Sylvester H. Three sons were educated at Yale College. Samuel B., a 
graduate of 1849, became a lawyer of high promise. He went to California 
in 1849, and died at Marysville, Cal., in 1863. S. S. Mulford, Jr., a graduate 
of 1850, served as a surgeon of the Union army through the Rebellion, and 
now practices his profession in the city of New York. Elisha is a graduate 
of 1855. [See Authors.] 

S. S. Mulford died Juue 6th, 1864. As a voluntary expression of regard, 
all the stores and public offices in Montrose were closed at the time of his 
funeral. 

The following miscellaneous items, in which style is sacrificed 
to brevity, are culled from the newspapers of their respective 
dates: — 

1816. — Herrick & Fordham, merchants, in new store, near the court-house. 
(This was soou moved down to the lot now occupied by E. C. & G. F. Ford- 
ham's shops.) Montrose Academy, established by act of the Legislature; C. 
Fraser, orator, 4th July celebration ; he was elected Senator the following fall. 
Benj. T. Case, lawyer, located in the village — his sign at first mistaken for 
Beer & Cake. [He removed it in consequence, and no other took its place.] 

1817. — May 7th, Miss Stephens' school on the avenue where store of W. 
J. Mulford is now. A daughter of Samuel Scott, lost two days in the woods. 
In June, a freshet swept away the saw-mill dams of Major Post, Conner & 
Bliss, and John Street. In August, another freshet occurred, in which Mr. 
Harris, owner of a mill about one and a half miles below town, was drowned. 
Foster & Raynsford's dry goods and leather store — now Exchange Hotel. 
R. B. Locke, tailor; Anson Dart, carriage manufacturer, " at sign of gilded 



324 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

coach, in Mechanics' Hall" (lot now occupied by W. L. Cox's shop). Daily 
allowance for subsistence of criminals in gaol was twenty cents. 

1818. — January, on petition of B. Sayre and others, Maple Street was ex- 
tended twelve rods to reach Mil ford and Owego turnpike, between the bank- 
ing house and Rufus Bowman's (then near G. F. Fordham's present residence). 
February, the typhus fever begins its ravages. Anson Dart advertises 
paints ; Mr. Curtis, dancing in Assembly Boom ; Asa Hartshorn, watches 
and jewelry; Win. Turrell, as saddle and harness- maker; 'Montrose 
Gazette,' opposite Fuller's tavern ; Mary T. Chapman, select school, draw- 
ing and painting in addition to studies; Abraham Fordham, cooper; Sayre 
& Mulford dissolved; Raynor & Mulford form a partnership; Samuel 
Gregory, sheriff; P. Brulte, fencing-school. 

1819. — N. H. Lyons, bookbinder, opposite Montrose Hotel (on present 
site of J. R. Dewitt), was joined in the spring by his brother, Jerre Lyons ; 
theirs was the first bookstore. In the fall they built a store where H. J. 
Webb now has one. Robert McCollum, tailor, in same building. J. 
Etheridge, cabinet-maker, advertises for an apprentice, "who can come well 
recommended, clear of the itch." Justin Clark, gaoler; "the gaol needs a 
lock;" three prisoners escaped in March, and one in April. Charles Catlin 
& Co., surveyors and land agents. B. Sayre, licensed. July 5th, a public 
dinner at B. Fuller's, the 4th occurring on Sunday. Among the toasts wa3 
the following by Walker Woodhouse : "Y7ie United States — what God has 
joined together, let no man put asunder." July 10th, Samuel Warner and 
Robert Day, committee upon public burying-grounds. Typhus fever con- 
tinues to prevail ; thirty-three adults died of the disease. October 24th, 
"As yet no mail stage has ever passed through this place ; we want the 
music of stage horns to enliven our village " Late in the fall a highway 
robbery occurred, and one hundred dollars was offered for the apprehension 
of the robber, who was secured by N. H. Lyons. David Fields, tailor. S. 
S. Mulford's store in the double house he built, now the residence of Jerre 
Lyons ; he resided here ten years. Samuel Barnard occupied house first built 
by S. S. Mulford (now Mrs. A. Jessup's), and engaged as teacher in the 
academy. 

1820. — January, Agricultural Society proposed by Dr. Rose. May, Medi- 
cal Society proposed by Dr. Bingham ; Carbine & Woodhouse, merchants, 
in store first occupied by B. Sayre; first proposed division of Susquehanna 
County. December, Howard and Jerre Lyons, "Bibles and whisky." Asa 
Hartshorn, watchmaker. Peter Jameson supplies the village with fresh 
meat, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at Say re's tavern. 

1821. — Much attention given to the making of maple sugar; also a great 
interest felt in the Agricultural Society, and in the raising of stock. Board 
of scholars from one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per week, in families. 
November 10th, first agricultural show. 

1822. — Eyre & Hodgdon, merchants, in store previously occupied by I. & 
D. Post. [Samuel Hodgdon soon after built the house now owned by Saxon 
Wilson, and used it as a store and residence.] Both the turnpike roads from 
New York and Philadelphia finished through the county. July 4th, oration 
by A. H. Read ; committee and officers dine at I. Post's tavern ; com- 
mittee of arrangements " return acknowledgments to Capt. Sayre and his 
company, for their very polite behavior, likewise to Lieut. Coy, Sergt. 
Dimock, and Henry Clark of the Artillery." October 9th, cattle show. 
Death of Bartlet Hinds, who was the first man to cut a tree where Mon- 
trose now stands. Henry Catlin keeps the tavern of B. Sayre (Washington 
Hotel), for a short time. Green & Bowman, boot and shoe manufacturers, 
north side of Public Square. 

1823. — Statement of expenditures of Susquehanna Academy, from May 1, 
1820, to January 27, 1823, shows the school teachers had received not quite 
five hundred dollars. March 23d, great snowstorm ; B. T. Case, deputy sur- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 325 

veyor, in place of Jas. Catlin, resigned ; Wm, Dennis, gunsmith ; Thos. J. 
Brooks, hatter ; Elias Colborn (afterwards Colborn & Gregory), tin and 
sheet-iron manufactory ; Fordham & Woodhouse, merchants. July 4th, 
Masonic celebration, North Star and Rising Sun Lodges — dinner at B. Sayre's 
Washington Hotel. July 9th, Widow Cornwell's log house burned. Stephen 
Hinds " makes boots in the neatest and best manner for two dollars." 
November, twenty-five sheep killed by wolves within two miles of Montrose. 

1824. — January 1. "This morning the new line of stages commenced run- 
ning to New York. Business quite lively to-day. Took ten dollars cash, 
nearly thirty bushels of oats, and six bushels of rye and corn, and charged 
$3.42." (From private diary of Jerre Lyons, given to show what could be 
done in 1824.) The following extract is also from Mr. L.'s diary : '■ Huzza ! 
huzza! for the new stage (via Milford and Owe^o turnpike) ; this evening 
about 7 o'clock, the new stage direct from New York. O what a shouting ! 
It was saluted by the drum and fife, and by the cheers of the populace. A 
number of buildings were brilliantly illuminated. The stage was forty-one 
hours coming from the city, but might have got in in less than forty hours, 
but stayed at Dundaff unnecessarily; six persons aboard." [This was the 
establishment of a tri-weekly mail from New York to Ithaca, which place it 
reached on the third day — two and a half days to Owego. The Philadelphia 
and Baltimore mail intersected this route at Montrose twice a week.] James 
Catlin contracts for carrying the mail to Silver Lake, Lawsville, Great 
Bend, Harmony, and Deposit. Ashery of B. Sayre in what is now "Bethel 
Valley." Tannery of Stephens & Foster. Brooks &. Bailey, hatters, where 
is now the law office of F. A. Case, Esq. The borough incorporated March 
29 ; B. T. Case, first burgess. May 7th, proposals solicited for putting up the 
frame of a Presbyterian meeting-house, signed by I. P. Foster. May 21st, 
reward offered for the murderer of Oliver Harper; Martin Curtis succeeds 
N. Raynor ; A. H. Read, fire insurance agent; B. R. Lyons, merchant; 
Wm. Harrington, plasterer; B. Sayre introduces "Vertical Spinner." 
September 10th, Treadwell's trial; Christopher Eldridge, merchant, on site 
of Mrs. Mulford's present residence; B. Sayre moves his store into a wing 
of his house, across the street; Miss Cochran and sister, milliners ; *S. 
Hodgdon moves to his store and house opposite Presbyterian church ; James 
Catlin, opposite the Silver Lake bank, and first house east of S. Hodgdon's 
drug store and residence ; the same is now a wing of the house of Rev. H. 
A. Riley ; Colonel John Buckingham in Montrose Hotel. 

1825. — Daily stage to New York. January 13th, execution of Treadwell ; 
newspaper controversy on capital punishment. February. A man imprison- 
ed for a debt of four cents. March. Hiram Finch and E. W. Fuller, con- 
stables; Wm. Foster and Caleb Weeks, saddlers ; Jabez and George Frink, 
blacksmiths. July 13th. Deacon Deans finished raising the steeple of the 
Presbyterian church ; the bank question was decided this afternoon in favor 
of Dundaff. July 28th. Esq. Post's woods on fire just below Mr. Etheridge's 
— wind from the south, and the village in danger of being consumed. August. 
Theatre (Archbold's) at the academy ; religious meetings held in the same 
building on the Sabbath ; Bible society and S. S. Union hold annual meet- 
ings here. December. S. F. Keeler & L. Catlin, tanners and curriers ; J. W. 
Raynsford and James Deans, committee to raise subscriptions for a singing 
school this winter. Jerre Lyons mentions the putting up of a new article of 
comfort for those times — a stove. 

1826. — Asa Hartshorn purchases the Montrose drug store ; teams go to 
New York for goods on the 6th of April and return the 24th. June 22d. 
Dedication of Presbyterian church ; pews sold August 28th, highest bid, 
$86. August 26th. Dimock & Fuller's office raised on east side of avenue, 
where is now Lyons & Co.'s store: subscriptions in county for Wyoming 
monument; J. C. Biddle succeeds Wm. Drinker as agent of the "Drinker 
Estate ;" law partnership of A. H. Read and John N. Conyngham. 



326 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1827. — Charter revoked of Northern Bank of Pennsylvania, at Dundaff. 
February 26th. Baptists begin to draw timber for their meeting-house; its 
raising finished June 28th. March. Internal improvement meeting at 
court-house ; canal commissioners anxious to bring trade of northern 
Pennsylvania to Philadelphia; help for the Greeks; address by Eld. Dim- 
ock ; supplies sent, with $86 in money, from Montrose. Postage, not over 
thirty miles, six cents ; over thirty and not eighty miles, ten cents ; over 
eighty and not one hundred and fifty miles, eighteen and three-fourths cents ; 
over one hundred and fifty and not four hundred miles, twenty-five cents. 
July 4th. Bible, tract, and domestic missionary societies, and S. S. Union met; 
discourses delivered by Elder Dimock and Rev. Burr Baldwin ; anniversary 
of same societies October 3d. December, Montrose Alumnus Eloquentice 
meet for debate. 

1828. — Stage route established to Chenango Point. March 30th. Prot. 
Epis. service at the academy; in May following, a visit was paid by Bishop 
Onderdonk. May. Wm. Foster & A. H. Bolles, shoemakers. (The latter 
studied medicine with Dr. Fraser, and became a practicing physician. He 
built the house which stood for many years on the site of D. D. Sayre's 
residence, and which served as a parsonage to Episcopalians, Universalists, 
and Presbyterians, in succession.) C. Cornwall and Allen G. Plum were 
wagon-makers, forty rods east of the court-house ; Daniel Searle succeeds 
Buckingham in charge of Montrose Hotel; Asa Harsthorn's drug store, 
-which occupied the corner of his house (now Mrs. Fanny Lathrop's), was 
moved down to the site of Read's store ; a sidewalk was laid up the avenue ; 
"hooped skirts come again;" store established by M. S. Wilson and Wm. 
L. Post. December. Meeting to form a temperance society, forty-one 
gentlemen members. 

1829. — January 8tb. A ball in honor of Andrew Jackson at D. Curtis', 
and an oration at the court-house, by B. Jones; Hough & Prindle, tailors, 
over the store of Porter & Keene ; the latter disposed of their stock to C. 
Avery & Co. ; washing-machines by Samuel A. Brownson and Stephen 
Hinds ; E. Walker's fanning-mill ; Samuel Hodgdon and I. P. Foster re- 
move in 1829; controversy about Sabbath mails; G. & H. D. Fuller, dry 
goods, groceries, etc., opposite Montrose Hotel — no liquors ; music school, 
T. T. Evans taught the German flute and clarionette; Elder Dimock preached 
three sermons on the Sabbath, after having preached a New-Year's discourse 
the Thursday previous. February. Judge Herrick came Saturday evening to 
attend court, and left the following Wednesday. [This item and a number 
following are from the diary of D. Post, Esq.] Ordination of Elder J. W. 
Parker and of Baptist deacons in the Presbyterian meeting-house. July 1st. 
Dr. Mason Denison's house raised ; Hyde Crocker occupied his house (late 
Walter Foster's] at the lower end of the village — then next house to D. 
Post's ; a house opposite H. C.'s was built for a parsonage and afterwards 
called the Judd house; Luther Catlin & S. F. Keeler dissolve partnership ; 
J. & B. R. Lyons' store. 

1829.— -Bounty of thirty-seven and a half cents for the scalp of a full-grown 
fox ; for that of a wild-cat, $1.00 ; of those not full grown, twenty-five cents 
each. Lewis Brush on Harrington farm. Fashions for May ; "the sleeves are of 
a frightful breadth ; when you have taken the quantity of stuff necessary for 
the gown, cut just the same quantity, and it will be about enough to make the 
sleeves." Ladies with gaiters, to be seen — "an instance of downright de- 
parture from the proper modest bearing of the sex." A gentleman of New- 
burg offered "a reward of five dollars for the lady who will wear the smallest 
hat in church for the next six months." The same paper ('Susquehanna 
Register') contained S. S. Mulford's advertisement of " Leghorn and Nava- 
rino Bonnets," the size of which was probably never exceeded. 

1830. — Excitement about Delaware and Hudson Cana-1 and Railroad. At a 
meeting in Montrose, of which 1). Post was chairman and C. Avery secre- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 327 

tary, it was " Resolved, It is the sense of this meeting that the interests of 
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company are so intimately connected with 
the prosperity of the county, that an injury to the one will be seriously felt 
by the other." At an anti-masonic meeting it was ''Resolved, That in our 
belief, Christianity is all-sufficient to promote charity, peace, harmony, friend- 
ship, and brotherly love, thro' the whole world, without the aid of a secret 
society which is limited in its charitable deeds." Reuben Harris, chairman ; 
George Walker, C. Avery, and Geo. Fuller, standing committee,- Joel 
Lamb, Warren Bailey, Dr. C. Fraser, G. Fuller, Thos. Christian, Simon 
Stevens, committee of vigilance. Great interest felt in North Branch 
Canal. May 27th. D. Post mentions going with Wm. Jessup " to see 
where they had been digging for coal down on Snake Creek." Admiral 
Rupley, tin and sheet-iron manufactory. Mr. R. built the house now the 
residence of B. R. Lyons. James Eldridge and Alvan Dana, cabinet-makers. 
M. Curtis and L. Searle, dry goods, etc., one door east of Hartshorn's drug 
store. B. G. Grover & Co., boot and shoemakers. P. Hepburn, in Mon- 
trose hotel. U. Cushman and C. F. A. Yolz, merchants. Wilson & Post 
remove to new store, DewitVs corner. December. S. S. Mulford enters 
new house and store on the avenue. Census of Montrose, 415. Benjamin 
Hitchcock, merchant. 

1831. — Post-office removed from the hotel to Post's (Dewitt's) Corner. 
Misses Sutton, milliners, over A. Baldwin's harness shop. James Seymour 
surveys Susquehanna and Lackawanna Railroad, from Owego, via Chenango 
Point and Lanesboro' to Carbondale. Fourth of July celebrated by eight 
Sunday-schools : Union Sunday-school, Wm. Jessup, superintendent ; St. 
Paul's church, J. W. Raynsford; Bridgewater, first, B. Sayre; second, J. 
W.Hill; third, N. Scott ; fourth, James Deans; Lawsville, Lyman Smith; 
Friendsville, Thomas Christian ; nearly four hundred scholars and teachers ; 
Elder Dimock, president of the day; Revs. D. Deruelle and S. Marks, 
speakers. First complaint of public buildings ; question whether a new 
court-house should be erected here, or in some other village possessing 
superior advantages for a domestic mart. Proposal to set off a part of Susque- 
hanna County with Wayne and Luzerne, and make the county seat Car- 
bondale — " the undoubted future emporium of Northeastern Pennsylvania." 
Complaint of meeting-house floors besmeared with tobacco, or of slips 
adorned with spittoons filled with saw-dust and quids. D. Post & Son, 
store. October. A railroad meeting; delegates elected to a general con- 
vention in relation to a contemplated railroad from the city or county of New 
York to Lake Erie, to be holden at Owego, in December. Tuesday morning, 
1 o'clock, December 27th. Great fire on Public avenue, west side ; extended 
" from Post's Corner, and included it, with the ' Register' office in which 
the fire originated, the store of Avery & Drinker, J. & B. R. Lyons' store, 
house, and granary, and the building owned by Doctor Denison, the front 
room of which was occupied by the 'Volunteer' office, and the remainder by 
the family of E. Kingsbury, Esq. The fire was extinguished by tearing 
down and removing the store of C. Cushman, and by bringing the engine to 
play upon his dwelling-house (the site of W. J. Mulford's store). [The en- 
gine must have been the "Water Witch," though this appears to be the 
first mention of it.] A meeting in the court-house to form a Universalist 
society. Lecture by Rev. George Rogers. 

1832.— Newspaper dispute between Elder D. Dimock and Rev. S. Marks, 
in reference to "revivals." Mail from Montrose to Towanda tri-weekly. 
More railroad routes proposed, one of which was to come within half a mile 
of Montrose. August 9. Day of fasting and prayer in view of the ravages 
of cholera. D. D. Warner in Franklin Hotel. June 1. Lyons and Bennet, 
new store over the ruins of the former. Circuit court in August ; ten cases, 
all but one, ejectments. Public dinner given at D. Curtis' to soldiers of the 
Revolution, September 12th, during a special court held for the purpose of 



328 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

hearing and examining applicants under the new pension law; upwards of 
forty gray-headed veterans attended, and on Monday (11th), they paraded 
under command of Capt. Potter, an officer of the Revolution. The 
drum was beaten by one of their number, and, after marching, they were ad- 
dressed by Judge Dimock. Many of them were upwards of eighty years of 
age, and their exercises were performed with astonishing precision and 
spirit. Simeon Wylie, Elias Yan Winkle, E. Wakefield, Rufus Kingsley, 
and Asahel Gregory gave toasts at the dinner. September. Montrose 
Temperance Hotel, by B. Sayre ; " a variety of wholesome and refreshing 
drinks will be kept as a substitute for ardent spirits." "Protracted meet- 
ings" in the fall of 1832, and early in the winter, by the evangelist Burch- 
ard. Seven wolves shot not far from Montrose; numerous sheep had been 
killed. Charles Beardsley's carriage factory. Citizens meet to consult about 
establishing a bank at Montrose. 

1833. — Win. Wynn arrives with the " Hygeian Vegetable Medicines of the 
British College of Health, London, invented by J. Morrison ;" a meeting of 
the fire company, of which C. Cushman was chairman and Geo. Williston 
secretary; indignation at the little spirit of the community in providing an 
efficient engine ; Read & Wurts' law office, at the Silver Lake Bank ; plaster 
and salt hauled from Owego; the front-room of the long, low building then 
newly-erected for the 'Register' printing-office, across Turnpike Street from 
Mason Wilson's residence, was used as a tailor shop ; the building stood 
about thirty years; C. L. Ward, editor of the 'Register,' built the front of 
the house next west of it, and occupied it after his first marriage ; it was 
purchased by Leonard Searle, and occupied by him until he took the Mon- 
trose Hotel; Mr. Etheridge buried his bees for the winter, and, in the spring 
of 1833, found them in good condition. Dr. Buck, dental surgeon, at Sayre's 
Hotel. Asa Hartshorn sells out his drugs and jewelry to Bentley & Mitchell. 
Constitutional reform meetings. December. M. C. Tyler, traveling mer- 
chant, has a store over that of Lyons & Co. ; open Mondays and Tuesdays ; 
his residence was then one door below B. T. Case's. 

1834. — April. Doctor Daniel Avery Lathrop at the old stand of Dr. Fra- 
ser ; soon leaves to form partnership with Dr. Leet, in Friendsville. Sharp 
discussions respecting the act of Legislature which established a system of 
education by common schools. Frost on the 4th of June. Fourth of July. 
Twenty-four ladies in white represented twenty-four States. "A novel and 
handsome display of fireworks in the evening." Friday, July 11th. Tribute 
to Lafayette ; large procession of citizens and school children ; funeral ser- 
mon by Rev. T. Stow. Dental surgeon, J. M. Finch. Preserved Hinds in 
Montrose Hotel. October. Dr. Porter in house formerly occupied by A. 
Hartshorn. Montrose furnace and plow-shop by David Post and John Car- 
man. Wilson & Raynsford, merchants. 

1835. — December. Burying-round to be inclosed with a stone wall. In 
the spring, a meeting of " those who have enrolled themselves to form a fire 
company," the old organization having been given up. September. Stephen 
Hinds in "Farmer's Hotel" (a building that stood below Keeler's). Dr. B. 
A. Denison where Rev. Burr Baldwin now lives. November. " Dinerant 
corps dramatique," at Keeler's. J. Etheridge's grocery and provision store 
— the " Arcade." 

1836. — January 7th. Unprecedented storm, which commenced Thursday 
evening and continued three days and a part of another; snow over three 
feet deep on a level, and from six to ten feet where drifted. This storm "ex- 
ceeded any one probably ever experienced in this part of the country, by 
our oldest inhabitants." The weather was extremely cold, hundreds of cattle 
and other animals died — "nothing like it since April 1, 1807." Only one mail 
in nearly a week. February 18th. " Owing to the extreme depth of the snow 
in the woods, it is with great difficulty the deer can plunge through it. 
Our citizens have engaged in hunting them on snow-shoes, and four have 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 329 

been caught and brought alive into this place this week." February 25th. 
Death of Mrs. C. L. Ward, daughter of J. W. Raynsford, Esq.; she, and 
the Misses Fanny Post (Mrs. Jackson), A. L. Fraser, Dotha Catlin (Mrs. 
Wm. L, Post). Mrs. Lusk, and Mary Barnard (Mrs. George Fuller), have 
been designated as a bevy of " Montrose beauties." March. S. B. Bennet 
gives a public concert at the Presbyterian church, with a choir of singers 
trained by him. Dr. W. Terbell purchases the stand of B. A. Denison, 

M.D. It was said of the latter: "He can't show off so much as Dr. -, 

but he understands the theater of medicine better!" Anti-slavery discus- 
sions, warm and frequent. E. S. Castle in Montrose Hotel. Webb & Willis- 
ton, merchants, dissolve. Ladies' " Mental and Moral Improvement Society ;" 
first meeting in the Presbyterian church. Dr. Josiah Blackman, from Bing- 
hamton, locates one door below S. S. Mulford. Case & Hancock, hatters. 
" The Washington Band," of Montrose, give a concert at the Baptist church. 
The first visit of a governor to Northern Pennsylvania, made by Gov. Ritner, 
who came to Montrose. The hay scales on the avenue, opposite M. C. 
Tyler's store. 

1837. — A remarkable aurora borealis, late in January. Dr. B. A. Denison 
died, aged sixty-four. April 13th. "The bill to charter a bank, to be lo- 
cated at this place, has become a law." P. Hinds again in Montrose Hotel. 
"Four daily stages, and one tri-weekly stage, meet here at night and depart 
in the morning." An immense red barn then stood north of the hotel, with 
the great doors open on the avenue. J. Etheridge's " Arcade" was next 
north of it. December. Eld. Dimock's farewell discourse. Bank of Susque- 
hanna County; directors elected October 9th; J. C. Biddle (president), 
Wm. Jessup, I. Post, S. S. Mulford, Wm. Ward, D. Post, F. Lusk, Jesse 
Lane, C. L. Ward, William L. Post, Daniel Searle, M. S. Wilson, Charles 
Avery. 

1838. — July. C. F. Read, postmaster, in place of Wm. L. Post. Septem- 
ber. Dr. Mason Denison died, aged fifty years. Bank began operations Dec. 
17th, Isaac Kellum, cashier; broke Nov. 1849, T. P. St. John, cashier. 
December. Wood-bee for the widows and needy of Montrose. AVood cut 
on farm of Calvin Cox; M. C. Tyler, H. J. Webb, and B. S. Bentley, com- 
mittee. 

1839. — A parting public supper to Judge Herrick. Montrose, Bridge- 
water, Choconut, New Milford, Jackson, Gibson, and other townships within 
the bounds of the contemplated new county, send memorials to the Legisla- 
ture against a division of the county. Susquehanna County Mutual Insur- 
ance Company; J. C. Biddle, president, I. Kellum, treasurer, J. W. Rayns- 
ford, secretary. 

1840. — February 27th. " Snow is quite a stranger in this mountain land ; 
lilacs begin to bud ; at least one farmer has cast in his spring wheat. C. D. 
Cox in Montrose Hotel. Thomas Jackson, physician. Drs. E. S. Park and 
Ezra Patrick in partnership. 

1841. — February 5th. Parting supper to Judge Conyngham. by the Sus- 
quehanna bar. "Festival conducted on temperance principles;" Judge 
Conyngham said : — 

" Disclaiming every intention of making invidious comparisons, and par- 
ticularly of speaking one word in disparagement of the county where my 
residence is located (Luzerne), and over whose courts I am called to preside ; 
there is no county in Pennsylvania that stands so high in the scale of mo- 
rality as the county of Susquehanna. This fact, so honorable to the inhabi- 
tants, is not only established by the records of her courts; it is conceded 
by all ; and if it had been my lot to have had my residence within her limits, 
no considerations would have induced me to make the separation." Refer- 
ring to this, the ' United States Gazette' styles Susquehanna the " Banner 
County." At this supper, J. T. Richards referred to Horace Williston, Esq., 
as "Our absent father-m-Zora;." He was one of the most prominent of the 



330 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

early non-resident lawyers who practiced here. The village cemetery, of 
one and a half acres, with right of way, purchased for $300. 

1842. — Daguerreotypes taken in Montrose (first time) by Edwin Foot. 
Montrose procures a cannon. May 21st. Revival of military honors. In 
June, frosts, the mercury nearly to F. October. Animal magnetism attract- 
ing attention. 31st. Public meeting to form a fire company (the present No. 
1) ; organized in November. "General Taylor was then hewing his way 
to the ' Halls of the Montezumas,' and from his mode of fighting had won 
the sobriquet of Rough and Ready. This name was suggested and adopted." 

The events of the last thirty years are presumed to be too 
fresh in the public mind to render farther itemizing necessary, 
and the record is now left to some future annalist. A few 
dates, however, may be acceptable. 

The second large fire occurred in May, 1851, and swept the 
western side of the avenue, with the exception of one house on 
each end, viz., Searle's and Webb's. 

The fire of November, 1854, was still more destructive ; 
commencing in the harness shop of A. Baldwin (where is now 
the drug store of Burns & Nichols), two houses east of that 
were burned — James Eldridge's large building and Mason Wil- 
son's store; then westward the stores of Bentley & Read, A. 
Turrell, and the dwelling of I. L. Post, then the only brick 
building in the place — and crossing the street, the residence of 
Judge 1. Post, and all the buildings south on both sides of the 
street to the house of Mrs. Turrell and the storehouse of S. F. 
Keeler. 

A week later the old " Farmer's Hotel" — once Howell's, 
Fuller's, and Hinds', etc., was burned. Before the next fire, 
No. 2 Fire Company was organized, and, like the first, com- 
prised many of the business men of the place. About 2 o'clock 
in the morning, March 19, 1863, the old foundry of S. H. 
Sayre & Brothers was totally destroyed by fire. The ' Re- 
publican' of the same week stated that the establishment had 
added $100,000 per year, for three years, to the prosperity of 
our business population. Its destruction was a great loss to 
the community. But, with favors from some of the liberal- 
hearted, the firm were able to re-establish themselves, and to 
extend their business. In 1870, they manufactured and sold 
seventy-five Hubbard mowing-machines, fifty with reapers at- 
tached — also repaired about two hundred in addition to their 
other business. 

The following is the number of hands employed by Sayre 
Brothers, in each department of the foundry: machine shop, 9; 
blacksmith shop, 3 ; wood shop, 6 ; moulding room, 13 ; clean- 
ing room, 2 ; painter, 1 ; steam-mill, 1. 

Early in February, 1866, the Keystone Hotel, Wm. K. Hatch, 
proprietor, was burned. It stood upon the site of Mr. Sayre's 
house, which had also been burned fifteen vears earlier, and had 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 331 

been occupied by him as a residence several years, before he 
sold it to Mr. Hatch. 

On the 26th February, 1870, Searle's hotel, also a bookstore 
in which the fire originated, and the express office were burned 
— the buildings all owned by L. Searle. 

At present there are four fire engines in the place, two of 
No. 1 Company, one of No. 2, and one of the " Wide Awake'' 
Company, who use the engine first brought here. 

In addition to the manufactory and foundry of the Sayre 
Brothers, Montrose and vicinity has a fork factory, woolen 
mills, a " building-blocks" factory, 1 eight dry goods and general 
merchandise stores, four shoe, and two jewelry stores, six 
groceries, three eating saloons (no liquor), two drug, and two 
hardware stores, four blacksmith shops, three insurance offices, 
three milliners, three or four mantua-makers, three liveries, 
three wagon shops, two tanneries; two shops of each of the 
following: cabinet-makers and undertakers, carpenters, turning 
and scroll-saw, coopers, saddle and harness, barbers, news- 
dealers; also, two hotels, two meat markets, and two printing- 
offices ; one shop of each of the following : light-cabinet, pattern, 
upholsterer, and marble dealer; one banking house, a book- 
bindery, an ashery, an express-office, and a photograph gallery; 
thirteen lawyers' offices, two justices', six physicians', and one 
dentist's. 

The court-house and jail are both fine structures. 

A machine for bending ha} 7 , straw, and manure forks of every 

1 The blocks were invented in December, 1866, and patent issued February 
5, 1867. A few small sales were made in December, previous to granting of 
patent. 

Early in 1867, the blocks were shown by Mr. Crandall, the inventor, to Bar- 
num, of New York, who was so much impressed with their novelty and beauty 
that he gave them a place in his museum, where they remained on exhibition 
for several weeks. By this time the demand for them had so much increased 
that the attention of Mr. Crandall was required at home in the invention and 
perfection of adequate machinery for their production. That year the sales 
amounted to about ten thousand dollars. 

In January, 1868, a contract was made with the publishers of the ' American 
Agriculturist,' of New York, Messrs. Orange Jndd & Co., for the sale of all the 
blocks manufactured, which amounted in that year to about thirty thousand 
dollars. 

In October, 1868, Mr. George Welles Comstock, of New York, became a partner 
in the business, and the firm is now C. M. Crandall & Co. About twenty 
thousand dolllars' worth of toy railway trains will be manufactured this year. 
The market for these, as well as the blocks, is principally found in New York, from 
which, through the regular channels of trade, they find their way to every State 
in the Union. A few days since you might have seen in New York a case of 
Crandall's blocks marked for Australia, and several more for Liverpool, Eng- 
land. Messrs. Crandall & Co. will cut up this year about 200,000 feet of bass- 
wood lumber, and some 65,000 feet of hemlock boards will be required to make 
the packing-cases. About forty regular hands are employed this year. The 
factory is the second, or upper story of Sayre Brothers' foundry building, 
and is 40 feet wide and 250 feet long. Twenty circular saws are in operation, 
and other machinery in proportion. [From ' Republican,' 1870. "j 



332 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

description has lately been invented by G. R. Lathrop, and is 
now in use in the fork factory. 

M. T. Jackson has lately obtained a patent for a carriage 
top ; and PI. L. Beach for a scroll-saw. 

The population of Montrose by the census of 1830, was 415 ; 
in 1860, it was 1263, and in 1870, 1463. 

The Montrose and Bridgewater Poor Asylum has been in 
successful operation for the last five years; and affords a com- 
fortable and pleasant home for our poor. 

After the passage of the act of incorporation in the spring 
of 1864, the directors purchased a farm in Bridgewater town- 
ship, containing one hundred and twenty five acres, at a cost of 
$4357 ; also stock and the necessary farming implements. Not- 
Avithstanding this " enormous expense," the debt and interest 
have been paid ; additional personal property has been pur- 
chased; the paupers in both districts have been kept for five 
years, and now the property — real and personal — is worth $8000 ; 
all paid for at the rate of eight mills on the dollar of valuation, 
on an average each year — and this too, without resorting to 
the indictable offence of selling the keeping of paupers to the 
lowest bidder. 

HON. ALMON H. READ. 

Almon Heath Read was born at Shelburne, Vermont, June 12, 1790. He 
remained at home with his lather, working on the farm, until seventeen years 
of age. He then entered Williams College, Massachusetts, and graduated 
in 1811. During his collegiate course, on one of his visits home, he gave his 
views on political affairs, favoring a Democratic policy ; and his father, a 
stern old Whig, threatened that unless he gave up his Democratic notions, 
he would take him from college, and set him to work on the farm. It appears, 
however, that after his graduation he studied law for two years in Albany, 
where his political notions were not disturbed. 

In 1814, he was drafted into the military service, just before the battle of 
Plattsburg, and arrived there the day after the battle ; his company was dis- 
banded, and thus suddenly ended his military career. 

Soon after, he left his home in Vermont, on horseback, with a pair of 
saddle-bags, and a few dollars in his pocket, for the State of Ohio — then the 
far West — where he expected to settle. But, on reaching VIott's tavern on 
the old Newburgh turnpike, in New Milford township, the roads were nearly 
impassable, the mud being knee-deep to the horse. He learned that one 
of his young associates, Col. Wm. C. Turrell, had settled a few miles south 
of Montrose, and he concluded to turn aside from his route and spend a few 
days with him, hoping the roads would improve, and that he might then pro- 
ceed on his journey. 

On reaching Montrose, which was then a new county-seat — the first court 
having been held the year previous — he was prevailed upon to remain, and 
was offered the position of clerk to the county commissioners. He applied for 
admission to the bar of Susquehanna County ; but the only settled (?) lawyer 
then in practice here, objected, as he had not pursued the requisite course of 
study in accordance with the rules of Pennsylvania courts. He was therefore 
compelled to enter his name as a student, in the office of Judge Scott, of 
Wilkes-Barre. Very soon after, the objection was withdrawn, and he became 
a regular practitioner. 




.IP 1 "" ■'■ 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 333 

In 1816, Mr. Read married Miss Eliza Cooper, of Southampton, Long 
Island, and then settled permanently in Montrose, where he prosecuted his 
profession 1 (at the same time holding the office of county clerk, from 
January 1, 1815, to January 1, 1820), and became much interested in the pro- 
gress and growth of the town. He took a lively interest in the establish- 
ment of the Academy, and later, when the temperance movement was first 
agitated, he became one of its warmest supporters. 

It does not appear that he took any prominent part ia politics until about 
1827, when he was elected as Representative, 

In 1828, he was not a candidate, but was elected in 1829, '30, '31, and '32. 

In 1833, he was elected State Senator and served for four years. He was 
soon after elected State Treasurer, which office he held one year, and was 
then elected a member of the convention to revise the Constitution of Penn- 
sylvania. He took a prominent part in this convention. After its close, the 
chairs occupied by the members were sold at public auction. The one used 
by Mr. Read was sold for $14 (being the first choice), and the remaining one 
hundred and thirty-one seats for prices varying from $3 to $10. 

Soon after he accepted an invitation of the citizens of Erie County to a 
banquet at Erie, and they there presented him with a beautiful oak cane, 
having upon it six silver plates bearing the following inscription : — 

Presented by the Democratic 
citizens of Erie County, to 

Almon H. Read, for his dis- 
tinguished services in the 

Convention to reform the 
Constitution of Pennsylvania. 

Commodore 0. H. Perry's Victory, 
Lake Erie, Sept. 11, A. D. 1813. 

''We have met the enemy 
and they are ours." 

Taken from the Flag-ship 
Lawrence, Aug. 4th, A. D. 1838. 

His name was sent by Gov. Porter to the Senate, as President Judge of 
one of the Western Judicial Districts of the State; but the Senate being 
equally divided between the Democrats and Whigs, the vote was a tie ; and 
his nomination was not confirmed. 

In March, 1842, he was elected to Congress to fill the unexpired term of 
Hon. Davis Dimock, Jr.; and, in the fall of 1842, he was re-elected for the 
years 1843 and 1844. In Oct. 1843, his wife died, after a short illness; and 
soon afterwards, whilst on his way to Washington, he took a severe cold, 
which terminated in consumption, and which, during that session, prevented 
him to a great extent from participating in its deliberations. Even his po- 
litical enemies esteemed him a pure legislator. 

During his sickness at Washington, in order to show his regret at having 
been a politician, he said to his son : " Never accept an office from the peo- 
ple. I have always been successful whenever my name came before the 
electors, for fifteen years, never having been defeated, and all I have ever 
received as compensation is this (holding up his Erie cane), and a few news- 
paper puffs ; leaving my family in a far different position from that which 



1 He was often called the " honest lawyer," from the fact that lie was never 
known to engage in a case for a client, unless he honestly thought hiui in (he 
right; and always discouraged the petty litigation so prevalent at the present 
day. 



334 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

they probably would have held, had I pursued my profession ; besides de- 
priving myself, for a great portion of each year, of the comforts of a home." 

Mr. Buchanan having called upon him and inquired after his health, he 
replied he hoped to be well enough to start for home in a few days. Mr. B. 
urged him to stay in Washington, as it was a better climate than the north 
for consumptives ; but he replied, " Mr. Buchanan, you have no children, no 
home-ties ; I desire to go home and die among my children." 

He predicted that the slavery question would soon result in a terrible 
struggle between the North and the South. 

Although very feeble, he succeeded in reaching home about the first of May, 
1844, and on the third of June following he died, in the 54th year of his age. 

The Hon. B. A. Bidlack pronounced a eulogy in the House of Represen- 
tatives upon the character and services of Mr. Read, in which he said : " He 
was possessed of a strong, vigorous, and cultivated intellect, which enabled 
him to be a distinguished member of all the deliberative assemblies with 
which he was associated, so long as the health of his body permitted the free 
and full exercise of the powers of his energetic mind." 

Mr. Read was in politics a Democrat of the old school, as opposed to the 
Whig party. 

HON. WILLIAM JESSUP. 

William Jessup was born at Southampton, L. I., June 21, 1797. He 
graduated at Yale College, 1815. Three years later, he, with several others, 
left his native place for Montrose, and entered the law office of A. H. Read, 
Esq. The following winter, he taught the first term of the first academy 
here. He was admitted to the bar, February, 1820. In July of the same 
year he married Amanda Harris, of Long Island. 

He held the office of register and recorder for the county by appointment 
of Governors Shulze and Wolf, from January, 1824, nine years, and declined 
a re-appointment in 1833. In 1838, he was appointed, by Governor Ritner, 
president judge of the eleventh judicial district of Pennsylvania, which then 
comprised the counties of Luzerne, Pike, and Monroe. '"Upon the acces- 
sion of the Hon. John N. Conyngham to the presidency of the adjoining 
district, a transfer was made by the legislature of the counties of Luzerne 
and Susquehanna, that accommodated both judges in respect to residence. 
Upon the expiration, in 1848, of his first constitutional term upon the bench, 
Judge Jessup was re-appointed by Governor Johnston to the district then 
composed of Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Wyoming. Here he continued to 
preside until the term again expired in 1851 ; prior to which he had been 
nominated by a State convention of the Whig party, as one of the five judges 
of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, but that party was, as usual, 
defeated at the following election. He then returned once more to his 
favorite profession." In this he was actively engaged until disabled by 
paralysis, in the year 1863. In 1848, Hamilton College conferred upon him 
the merited degree of LL.D. 

As a lawyer, " he was quick and persevering, a strong advocate both with 
the court and with the jury, winning success with the former by the clear- 
ness and correctness of his legal knowledge, and with the latter by the 
force of his character, the fairness and strength of his argument." The 
first authority quoted, says : " One of his most brilliant forensic triumphs 
may be reckoned his defence of the Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, 
upon the charge of heresy, before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church." 

The second authority continues: "His judicial course was characterized 
by great ability, clearness, impartiality, and a stern adherence to integrity 
and uprightness. As a citizen, he was a person of great public spirit, liberal 
in his views, and generous in his gifts, both of time and money, for the pub- 
lic welfare. He was affable and courteous in his bearing to the humblest of 



;>- 





HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 335 

his acquaintance. In politics he was strongly Republican, and entered into 
the prosecution of the late war with zeal." 

The temperance movement, the interests of the oppressed, the cause of 
education, and the advancement of agriculture received his early and con- 
tinued hearty co-operation. 

He joined the Presbyterian church of Montrose, September 3, 1826, and 
was ordained a ruling elder of the same, August 2, L829. " It became 
almost a proverb," as stated in a discourse preached at his funeral, " that 
the pungent sermons of the pastor were fitly supplemented by Judge Jes- 
sup's glowing arguments and pathetic appeals." 

"Much that is noble in the development, achievements, and position of 
many persons is directly attributable to him." 

He was widely known and highly honored throughout the New-School 
branch of the church to which he belonged ; but nowhere did his Christian 
character shine with greater lustre than among those who knew him best. 
He became vice-president of the A. B. C. F. M., and cheerfully gave up two 
sons as foreign missionaries. Of these, Henry Harris Jessup, D.D., is at 
present professor of Biblical Literature in the Protestant Theological Semi- 
nary at Beirut, Syria. Judge Jessup died September 11, 1868. Of his 
eleven children, eight are still living. 

HENRY DRINKER, THE ELDER. 

Henry Drinker, at the time of his decease one of the largest landholders 
in Pennsylvania, was the second son of Henry Drinker, of Philadelphia, and 
Mary Gottier, of Burlington, N. J. He was born 21st February 1734, (old 
style). When twenty-five years of age, he embarked for England, returning 
in" the following year. Letters written by him during this tour are still ex- 
tant among his descendants, and they bear evidence to the fact that he was 
a man of observation, and graphic powers of description. Soon after his 
return, on the 13th January, 1761, he was married to Elizabeth Sandwith. 

The lands of Henry Drinker were located in Wayne, Luzerne, Wyoming, 
Center, Clearfield, Indiana, Cambria, Bradford, Tioga, and Susquehanna 
counties, in Pennsylvania; and in Montgomery and Delaware counties, 
New York. 

He was a staunch member of the Society of Friends, and for this reason, 
was not brought so much before the public, as he in all probability, other- 
wise would have been ; the members of this denomination not being in the 
habit of taking an active part in public affairs. He was for many years a 
member of the firm of James & Drinker, shipping and importing merchants, 
of Philadelphia ; they were very successful in their business previous to the 
Revolution. 

One of the cardinal doctrines of the Society of Friends is opposition to 
war in every form, and a firm and decided refusal to bear arms in support of 
any cause, however just. In consequence, he, with nineteen other persons, 
seventeen of the number being Friends, were arrested and taken, first to 
Staunton, Va., and afterwards to Winchester, Ya., where they were kept in 
partial confinement nearly eight months, without provision being made for 
their support. 

His first speculations in lands were in the purchase of farms in the settled 
counties, principally adjoining Philadelphia County, in which transactions he 
was very successful, and this led him into his large purchases of wild lands. 
He was a man of great business ability. He resided in Philadelphia, and 
died in 1808. 

The late Esq. Raynsford, of Montrose, and Hosea Tiffany, were the first 
purchasers of any of his land in Susquehanna County, under the Pennsylva- 
nia title. They walked to Philadelphia to obtain their deeds. 



336 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



HENRY DRINKER. 

Henry Drinker, son of Henry S. Drinker of Philadelphia, and grandson 
of Henry Drinker the elder, founder of the "Drinker Estate," was born in 
the year 1804, near Philadelphia. After living for a short time at Strouds- 
burg, Pa., he came to Susquehanna Counly, about the year 1828, remaining 
for a time on a farm in Springville (now Dimock). He became a partner of 
the late James C. Diddle, in the agency of the Drinker estate; to the full 
agency of which he succeeded, upon the death of Mr. Biddle. In the year 
1845 he was married to Frances Morton of Wilmington, Del., and continued 
to reside in Montrose until his decease, which occurred on the 5th February, 
1868. 

His life, like that of most of the residents of Montrose who have taken no 
active part in political affairs, was devoid of incident ; but it may be truly 
said of him, his instincts were generous, and his liberality worthy of example 
by others. It is to his influence and means that the congregation of St. 
Paul's Protestant Episcopal church of Montrose are largely indebted for 
the handsome house of worship they now occupy. 

He took an interest in everything appertaining to agriculture; was fond 
of, and took pleasure in the cultivation and ornamentation of the grounds 
about his residence, and had also a fondness for fine horses, as weli as for 
other domestic animals. To his own proper employment he added that of a 
farmer and banker, and for some years previous to his decease, he had owned 
and superintended the operations of two farms in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Montrose. He was at one time president of the County Agri- 
cultural Society. 

JAMES C. BIDDLE. 

James C. Biddle was a native of Philadelphia, born December 23d, 1802. 
He was early educated to business habits, having served his apprenticeship 
to the shipping and commission business, and on November 1, 1825, he left 
the counting-house of Smith & Stewardson of that city, and in the year 1826 
came to Susquehanna County as agent for the Drinker estate, and soon won 
the esteem and confidence of the settlers by his liberality and indulgence. 
On the 3d April 1828, he was married in Philadelphia to Sally Drinker, a 
granddaughter of the founder of the estate ; and after his marriage, Mon- 
trose became his permanent residence. 

In order to qualify himself properly to conduct the business of his agency, 
he commenced the study of law under the Hon. Wm. Jessup, and in the 
spring of the year 1836, was duly admitted to the bar of Susquehanna 
County. He was pre-eminently a man of public spirit, and sagacious busi- 
ness qualifications, and he won among his neighbors, and throughout the 
county, a popularity as extensive as it was well-deserved. 

As president of the Bank of Susquehanna County, of the Mutual Insurance 
Company, and as an active director and patron of various other institutions. 
his services were important ; while his name, so far as it was known, yielded 
unbounded respect and confidence. Many had cause to remember his cheer- 
ful benevolence and unostentatious charity. 

But eminent as was his usefulness in a public capacity, his private worth 
among his immediate friends and neighbors, and in the domestic circle, was 
more truly inestimable. 

His death occurred at Philadelphia, whither he had gone on business, 
March 31st, 1841, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. 

The usual resolutions of respect and condolence with the family were 
passed by the various corporations with which he was connected. Though 
highly eulogistic, they expressed no more than what every one who knew 
him felt was his due. 




i'ttgihy A-HKit-cb-ie 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 337 



CHURCHES. 

Notice of the Baptist church having already been given in 
the sketch of Elder D. Dimock, a few items only need be added. 

Henry Congdon, Asa Baldwin, Jonathan Wheaton, David 
Knowlton, Samuel Baldwin, and Luther Dean covenanted to- 
gether and were duly recognized "as the Baptist Church of 
Christ of Bridgewater, Pa.," April 9th, 1808, by Elder Dimock 
and other brethren of the Exeter church, at the log-house of 
Bartlet Hinds. Two days later, the church met at Henry Cong- 
don's, and received into membership Sarah Congdon, Mary Bald- 
win, Achsah Knowlton, and Betsey Baldwin. It was not until the 
4th of May following that Bartlet Hinds presented testimonials 
of his membership of the 2d Midclleboro' Baptist church, Mass., 
and was received here. His wife Agnes, Stephen Wilson, 
and John Gardener were baptized by Elder Dimock, and added 
to the church. During the following fifty years over one 
thousand members were received by baptism and by letter. 
Eleven had been ordained deacons, and ten licensed to preach. 
Several years, following April, 1837, were years of trial on 
account of a division of sentiment on the subject of slavery. 
Forty-six disaffected members received letters of dismission, 
August, 1839, and afterwards organized " The Montrose and 
Bridgewater Baptist church." This was disbanded, and most 
of the members returned to the old church (the anti-slavery 
party) during the great revival of 1842-3. 

The pastors of the church have been : Elders Dimock, "War- 
den, Post (" supply "), Taylor, Glanville, Eansted, Wyeth, Stone, 
Morse, Ford, and at present, John E. Chesshire, D.D. Others 
have occasionally ministered to the church some weeks at a 
time; Elder Fox was connected with one or two revivals here. 

The house of worship was commenced in 1827; the first 
service in it was held December 10th, 1829. The building was 
materially enlarged, and a basement added about twenty years 
ago. 

The first Congregational church of Bridgewater was organ- 
ized at the house of Joseph Baynsford, July 3d, 1810, by Bevs. 
E. Kingsbury, then missionary from Connecticut, and M. Miner 
York, of Wyalusing, with the following members: Moses 
Tyler, Edmund Stone, Simeon Tyler, Samuel Davis, Amos 
West, Phineas Arms, Sarah Tyler, Esther Lathrop, Anna Bayns- 
ford (wife of Joseph) Anna Davis, Hannah Fuller, and Hannah, 
wife of J. W. Baynsford. The first named was chosen deacon. 

The sermon on this occasion was preached in the barn of 

Walter Lathrop, near the barns since erected by his son Daniel ; 

it was burned in 1816. The service was one of great solemnity, 

and was the prelude to a revival of great power. Church 

22 



338 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

meetings were held very generally after this, at the house of 
Edward Fuller. 

Rev. Mr. Kingsbury had visited the settlement previously, 
and baptized children of Mrs. Fuller, Moses and Simeon Tyler. 
Rev. Wm. Lockwood, another missionary, was here in the fall 
of 1810. At the first communion, October 4th, Eevs. Ard 
Hoyt and M. M. York were present, and thirty-two joined the 
church. 

On the 19th of June, 1811, Rev. Joseph Wood was installed 
pastor of the church. 

The first parsonage, or, at least, the first minister's residence, 
was a few rods from the house since occupied by John Stroud, 
and at present by N. Smith. 

Mr. W. preached half the time for the 2d Congregational 
church of Bridgewater (now Brooklyn). Meetings were held 
at the South school-house for the first time, September, 1811. 
A former log school-house was burned. 

Deacon Tyler resigned his office May, 1812, and Z. Deans was 
chosen in his place; he was ordained with P. Arms, December 
31st, 1812, and the Articles of Faith and Covenant of the Lu- 
zerne Association were then adopted. 

On the 28th of January, 1814, the church applied to the 
New Hampshire Missionary Society for assistance ; twelve of 
the members contributed forty cents for the postage on two letters 
about this business. 

Mr. Wood's connection with the church was publicly dissolved 
September 24th, 1815. A constitution was drawn up at a meet- 
ing at the school-house, Thanksgiving day, November 13th, 
1815, "for the purpose of forming a permanent ecclesiastical 
society, for the support of an evangelical gospel minister in 
Bridgewater." Another meeting was held at the house of J. 
W. Raynsford the first Monday in Jan. 1816, and an agree- 
ment was entered into to support a minister half the time in 
the village of Montrose, and the other half in the south neigh- 
borhood, each man to pay $1, the half of which might be in 
produce. But the tide of opinion was not all one way, and a 
" newspaper war " ensued. 

During the same year the Union Bible Society was formed. 
Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Bradford Counties acting in concert, 
and this, too, excited great controversy. " A citizen," animad- 
verting upon the constitution of the Bible Society, linked this 
with banks, turnpike companies, &c, thus : " Every man of sense 
and information knows that these institutions are diametrically 
opposite to the principles of a free government. They are 
engines which I fear will destroy the Republic."(!) Another 
opposer said of the Bible Society : " The austensible object is 
certainly laudable, but the best of objects will not justify the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 339 

worst of means" — referring to the constitution, which he 
believed " drawn up in an artful, ambiguous manner, peculiarly 
calculated to trap the unwary." 

On "Lord's-day, September 15th, 1816," a meeting for pub- 
lic worship was held at the court-house. Rev. M. M. York, 
preacher. All meetings for the first half of the year 1817 
appear to have been held at the South school-house; but about 
this time J. W. Raynsford removed to Montrose, and a number 
of new members being also located here, meetings were held 
here every alternate Sabbath. There were then four Congrega- 
tional ministers and seven churches in the county. 

In January, 1818, the first mention of Rev. G. N". Judd ap- 
peared on the church records. He became the " stated supply " 
before the following July. 

Public worship was held in the academy for the first time, 
December 20th, 1818. 

In May, 1819, the church agreed to give Mr. Judd $600 per 
year, by an assessment on the members in proportion to the 
valuation of their property. 

The first board of trustees appointed to transact the business 
of the society, consisted of Joseph Butterfield, Zeb. Deans, I. 
P. Foster, Benj. Sayre, and Blizur Price. 

The monthly concert of prayer was first mentioned July 4th, 
1819. Church meetings were held monthly, and usually at the 
house of Reuben Wells. A visiting committee of four to six 
was appointed to serve three months, to call on the church- 
members, inquire after delinquents, &c. 

Mr. Judd, though greatly beloved, was never installed here. 
He left early in 1820, on account of the health of his wife — a 
sister of the late Hon. Theo. Frelinghuysen. They had occu- 
pied a house which B. Sayre and I. P. Foster built for a par- 
sonage; Mr. Judd putting in some money also, which, when he 
left, these gentlemen refunded, taking the society for security. 
Mr. F. eventually received his portion by the sale of the pro- 
perty, but that of Mr. S. was yielded to the society. The house 
was a two-story framed one, opposite Walter Foster's, at the 
lower end of the village, and long afterwards known as " The 
Judd house." It has been taken down. 

There appears to have been no regular preaching from Feb. 
1820 to Feb. 1822, after which Rev. Enoch Conger was here 
occasionally ; he administered the Lord's Supper once in the 
South school-house, in 1822, and once at the court-house, in 
1823. During a visit from Mr. Judd September 12, 1823, after 
considerable discussion, it was unanimously resolved to adopt 
the Presbyterian form of government, and seven ruling elders 
were elected, viz., P. Arms, Z. Deans, R. Wells, M. Tyler, J. 
W. Raynsford, B. Sayre, and I. P. Foster. 



340 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



About the same time, Rev. Burr Baldwin came as a mission- 
ary to Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1824, he 
brought his family to Montrose and began his pastoral services, 
but his installation was deferred until the meeting of Presby- 
tery in September following. 

The plan hitherto adopted of attending Sabbath worship at 
the South school-house in the morning, and in the village in 
the evening, was creating much ill feeling ; Mr. Baldwin re- 
versed the order, and the erection of a church in the village 
was decided upon ; the building was raised in July, 1825. The 
$1400 which had been subscribed for the church edifice was 
all expended on the foundation, the timber, and raising it ; and 
Mr. Baldwin set off to N. Y. and Philadelphia to raise funds, 
returning with $635. The building was completed, and the 
first service in it was held on Sabbath, June 4th. It was dedi- 
cated June 22, 1826. 

[The building at the left and in the rear is the parsonage.] 

Fig. 22. 




THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF MONTROSE. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 341 

It would be delightful to linger here and recount the wonder- 
ful work of grace that followed the dedication. There had 
been none equal to it since 1810. Although the labors of the 
several ministers here had not been unblest, still nearly half 
the additions to the church had been by letter. In succeeding 
years, the old church became enshrined in the hearts of hun- 
dreds ; and, especially, is its quaint old session-room recalled 
with tender emotion. 

" Ilk place we scan seems still to speak 

Of some dear former day — 
We think where ilka ane had sat 

Or fixt our hearts to pray ; 
Till soft remembrance drew a veil 

Across these een o' mine!" 

The pastor's home was in the old " Silver Lake Bank." 
Rev. Mr. Baldwin's pastorate ended in May, 1829. The pre- 
ceding year had been one of great trial to the church, owing 
to the disaffection of some of its members. The organization 
of the Episcopal church was one result of this; and the heal- 
ing of differences was followed by a revival of great interest. 

In the fall of 1829, the. church extended a call to the Rev. 
Daniel Deruelle, a native of New Jersey. He met with the 
session for the first time January 21, 1830, and was installed in 
June following. 

The church was greatly prospered during his ministry. He 
left in 1833, and, his health requiring him to travel, he engaged 
for some time as the agent of the board of education in the 
Middle States. 

The following is from a parting tribute to him by a pa- 
rishioner 1 : — 

'■ Thine was the skill to look with eye unfailing 

Quite through the deeds of men to action's spring ; 
Nor was thy heaven-born genius unavailing 
To wake on feeling's harp the master string." 

When Mr. D. left there were 202 members belonging to the 
church, of whom nine-tenths were members of the temperance 
society. 

Mr. Deruelle died March 4, 1858, in North Carolina, while 
agent for the American Bible Society. He was about sixty 
years old. 

The Rev. Timothy Stow was here early in 1834, and his 
labors were continued with this church until the fall of 1838. 
He was an outspoken, uncompromising anti-slavery advocate, 
and left a decided impression upon his congregation. A revival 
was enjoyed in 1835 and in 1837. 

Mr. Stow was occasionally absent-minded. He was accus- 
tomed to give notice of the evening meeting " at early candle- 

1 Miss A. L. Fraser. 



342 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

light," or, "at the ringing of the bell;" but, on one occasion, 
much to the amusement of the congregation, he announced that 
it would convene "at the ringing of the candles." Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Stow died some years ago. 

During the pastorate of the Eev. H. A. Kiley, for twenty-five 
years succeeding, the church was largely increased by a succes- 
sion of revivals of unusual power. 

He stimulated the church to the erection of the present beau- 
tiful brick house of worship. Its cost was about $15,000. The 
corner-stone was laid June 13, 1860. The first service held in 
it was the funeral of the last one of the constituent members 
of the church, Mrs. Hannah Fuller, December 17, 1861; the 
first Sabbath service, January 5, 1862 ; and the dedication, the 
following 5th of February. 

The present pastor, Rev. Jacob G. Miller, was installed in the 
fall of 1864. 

REV. BURR BALDWIN. 

Burr Baldwin was born January 19, 1789, in the town of Weston (now 
Easton), Fairfield County, Connecticut. He entered Staples Academy at 
eight years of age ; at fourteen he was recommended by the principal to 
read the Bible daily and consecutively — a practice he adopted, and has never 
relinquished. He believes it to have been one of the chief instruments of 
his conversion. He entered Yale College (second term Soph.) at eighteen ; 
joined the College church the next year; taught school some months after 
he graduated, and entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1811. He was 
twice obliged to give up study on account of his health ; the first time he 
took a journey of five hundred miles on foot, and was benefited ; the second 
time he rode eight hundred miles on horseback in order to ascertain if he 
could endure the labors of a foreign mission (having been accepted by the 
A. B. C. F. M.); but returned debilitated. It was not until 1816 that he 
was able to enter the ministry; he was then licensed by the Litchfield South 
Association. In the mean time he had taught a classical school at Newark, 
N. J., and had been eminently successful in Sabbath-school enterprises. 

He spent the following year as a missionary along the Ohio River from 
Steubenville to Marietta — then the far West — and upon his return, was 
obliged to resign his appointment to the heathen, on account of his health. 
During the next four years he labored as missionary in New York city and 
Northern New Jersey, and as agent for the Presbyterian Education and 
United Foreign Missionary Societies. Soon after his marriage, in July, 1821, 
he preached, as stated supply in Hardiston and Frankford, N. J., until his 
mission to Northeastern Pennsylvania and subsequent pastorate here. 

After leaving Montrose he was settled in Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts. In 1838 he resumed teaching in Newark, and remained there nine 
years ; his leisure being spent in efforts for the elevation of the working classes. 
He interested Roman Catholics in the Temperance movement, and obtained 
twelve hundred names to the pledge. He made strenuous efforts to further 
the education of the colored race here and in Africa — but the time for the 
success of his plan had not yet come. 

In 1847 he was appointed a missionary of the Montrose Presbytery to 
strengthen feeble churches and organize new ones. In this undertaking he 
organized eleven churches, and secured the erection of, at least, twelve 
church edifices. For such as needed assistance he obtained funds in New 




? ~---J i, .,,, . •■- ■'■' 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 343 

York and Philadelphia, and in each case made it an object to cancel the 
debt on the building at or prior to its dedication. 

In the autumn of 1856 the Southern Aid Society invited him to go to 
Texas to inquire into the condition of the several evangelical denominations ; 
he accepted and was absent eight months, encountering many physical diffi- 
culties and dangers; and returned to renew his labors in the Montrose 
Presbytery. 

In 1859 his labors were transferred to the Genesee Presbytery, where he 
remained short. of two years, when operations were suspended in consequence 
of the war. 

In July, 1862, he was appointed post chaplain at Beverly, Western Va., 
in the hospital, until it was closed, in 1863. 

His last engagement was with the Delaware Presbytery, until April, 1866, 
when, at the age of seventy-seven years and three months, he laid off the 
harness ; since which time he has been quietly domiciled among us with his 
family. 

REV. HENRY A. RILEY. 

Henry Augustus Riley was born in the city of New York, November 21, 
1801. At the age of fourteen he was placed at the Roman Catholic College, at 
Georgetown, D. C, where he remained two years, and where he was led to 
renounce the Protestant faith of his parents, and to purpose a preparation 
for the priesthood in that institution — a renunciation and a purpose, however, 
which were recalled when he was freed from the influences to which he had 
been subjected. 

He graduated in 1820 at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), 
in the collegiate department; and entered as student of law, in the office of 
Horace Binney, of that city. Remaining here a few months he was induced, 
after a very dangerous illness, to commence the study of medicine ; and 
graduated in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 
1825. 

He commenced the practice of medicine in New York, and continued it 
until the beginning of 1829, when, from a change in his religious views and 
feeliugs, he entered the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, to prepare for 
the ministry. 

He graduated in 1832, and in 1835 was ordained and installed pastor over 
what was then the Eighth Avenue Presbyterian church, now that of West 
Twenty-third Street, New York. 

In January, 1839, he commenced his ministry at Montrose, Pa., and after 
a pastorate of just twenty-five years he resigned the position, but has con- 
tinued to reside in the parish. [See Authors.] 

ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

October 5, 1829, Bishop Onderdonk confirmed J. W. "Rayns- 
ford, wife, and eldest daughter ; also John Street and wife, as 
constituent members of St. Paul's church. The ceremony took 
place in the Presbyterian meeting-house, of which church three 
of the party were former members. For many years St. Paul's 
had but two male members. 

Not far from this time Eev. Samuel Marks was a resident 
Episcopalian missionary in the county, officiating in Spring- 
ville and New Milford ; and, in the spring of 1831, in Montrose, 
at the court-house. 



344 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

June 2, 1832, the corner-stone of St. Paul's church was laid. 
Among its contents was the following record : — 

" Rector, Rev. S. Marks ; Wardens, J. W. Raynsford and J. 
C. Biddle; Vestry, Benjamin Lathrop, John Melhuish, S. F. 
Keeler, Henry Drinker, 0. L. Ward, and Admiral Rupley ; 
Contractors, Jesse Scott, Enos P. Root — contract, $1200. Donor 
of the ground, Reuben B. Locke. Date of charter, December 
20, 1830. ' Our banner is Evangelical Truth and Apostolic 
Order.' " 

This building was 30x43 feet. Service was held Christmas 
Eve, 1832, when the rector gave reasons for decorating the 
house with evergreens. It was consecrated by Bishop Onder- 
donk, October 27, 1833. An organ was purchased in December 
for $95. 

In December, 1849, land for a parsonage was donated by J. 
W. Raynsford. 

Purchase of land for a new church, September, 1855. Lay- 
ing of the corner-stone, June 1856 ; consecrated by Bishop 
Potter, July 17, 1857. At this time the first rector of the 
church preached the sermon. The cost of the church was 
$7500, and through the liberality of Henry Drinker, Esq., the 
debt was cancelled so as to allow of its consecration. A new 
organ was procured, late in 1866, for $1000. A lot for the 
erection of a Sabbath-school chapel has been purchased. 

The rectors of St. Paul's have been : Revs. S. Marks, W. 
Peck, Charles E. Pleasants — each at $150, for half the time, 
per year — George P. Hopkins, John Long, D. C. Byllesby, 
Robert B. Peet, Wm. F. Halsey, and E. A. Warriner — the last- 
named on a salary of $1000, with parsonage. 

The old church edifice was sold to the Roman Catholics, who 
celebrate Mass here once every three weeks. Their first ser- 
vices in Montrose were held at the house of Peter Byrne, 
about thirty years ago. 

A Universalist society was organized here late in 1831. 
The church was built in 1843, and dedicated July 11, 1844. 
The preachers of this denomination which are mentioned in 
the annals of Brooklyn have officiated here, unless the last one 
is an exception. 

The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1845, on land 
donated by Hon. William Jessup. It was for a long time weak 
in numbers and in means ; but within the last few years, through 
a series of revivals unprecedented in this church, its weakness 
has become strength, both in numbers and influence. 

Two African Methodist churches in the borough, and a Union 
church in South Bridgewater, have been erected within the last 
twenty-five years. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 345 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MIDDLETOWN. 

This township was so named because it was the middle one 
of the three townships, into which Rush was divided, in 1813. 
It was bounded on the north by Choconut, east by Bridgewater, 
south by Rush, and west by Bradford County. Its fair pro- 
portions, six miles north and south, by eight miles east and 
west, have since been twiee curtailed by the encroachments of 
Forest Lake township, leaving the area of Middletown but little 
over thirty square miles. But this change is scarcely less 
marked, than the change in the community, which from being 
originally almost wholly New Englanders, is now composed 
almost entirely of persons of foreign birth and descent — prin- 
cipally Welsh and Irish. Numerically, the latter predominate. 
Their immigration dates back less than forty years ; while the 
pioneers of the section now included within Middletown, settled 
in its forests over seventy years ago. These were Riel Brister 
and Benjamin Abbott in the spring of 1799 ; Andrew Canfield 
and Silas Beardslee in the fall of the same year; Albert Camp 
and Joseph Ross in the spring of 1800. Mr. Brister's family- 
consisted of six children, of whom Ira was one ; Mr. Canfield's, 
the same number, of whom Amos, then seventeen, is now 
living, in his eighty-eighth year; Mr„ Beardslee's, eight children; 
Mr. Ross's, the same; and Mr. Camp's, five children, of whom 
four were sons. Thus, at least forty-five persons, in the open- 
ing of the century, were located on the north branch of the 
Wyalusing; the section known to them as Locke, one of the 
townships laid out by surveyors under the Connecticut claim- 
ants. The readers of. these pages need not be told, that the 
high expectations of these settlers were soon doomed to disap- 
pointment. 

On a previous page it has been mentioned that Andrew Can- 
field left Connecticut in 1797, locating not far below the forks 
of the Wyalusing; when he came to the North Branch, he 
settled just above Riel Brister, on what has since been known 
as the Stedwell farm. Joshua Grant afterwards settled be- 
tween them. When the Canfields came here, in 1799, for some 
days they had only the milk of one cow as the sole sustenance 
of the family. The men would go in the woods to chop, 



346 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

become faint, and eat the inside of bark, and when their work 
was finished, have milk alone for supper. 

Amos, son of Andrew Canfield, afterwards cleared a farm 
just above Middletown Center. Benjamin Abbott and Silas 
Beardslee located still further north, but Mr. A. afterwards 
moved into Eush. There were no mills nearer than the river. 
Mr. Amos Canfield says : — 

" The first summer we lived on the North Branch, we burned a hole in a 
maple stump for a mortar, in which we pounded our corn, using a spring-pole. 
It made quite a mill for the whole neighborhood." 

In 1799, a family moved upon the head-waters of Wyalusing 
Creek, one of the survivors of which states, that one winter 
they kept their cattle alive by cutting down trees for them to 
browse upon the buds, sprouts, and tender limbs ; yet, when 
spring came, some had to be drawn on sleds to the pasture fields. 
He also states that the people, to eke out their meal, in some 
cases mixed the inner, pulp-like part of hemlock bark with it. 

Of the settlers whose labor changed this wilderness into a 
fruitful field, only meager items are recorded, but "their works 
do follow them." 

Eiel Brister died prior to 1815. Hon. Charles Miner men- 
tioned him more than forty years afterwards, as "the renowned 
wolf slayer." 

Benjamin Abbott was at Wyoming at the time of the mas- 
sacre, and in old Wyalusing township, outside the county, in 
1796 ; as were also a large number of those who located after- 
wards in Eush and Middletown. In his old age he was fond of 
relating incidents connected with Wyoming. He removed 
to Pike, Bradford County, in 1856, where he died in 1858, at 
the age of ninety-three years. 

Andrew Canfield was a prominent Methodist, and his house 
was ever open for the itinerant preacher. 

In 1814, Middletown was in the Wyalusing circuit, then 
about twenty by forty miles in extent. 

Andrew C. died June, 1843, aged eighty-five years. Jere- 
miah, a brother of Andrew, was also an early settler. 

Silas Beardslee's death occurred in 1820 — his neck being 
broken by a fall from a load of hay. His widow removed to 
Apolacon, where his descendants now reside. His grandson, B. 
B. Beardslee, is now (1870) a member of the State Legislature. 

Albert Camp was one of a numerous family, children of Job, 
a pioneer, prior to 1793, on the Wyalusing, five miles from its 
mouth ; a place still occupied by his descendants, and called 
Camptown. He died at a very advanced age, in 1822. His 
daughter Polly was the wife of Joseph Eoss. His sons were 
Isaac (now in Bradford County), Levi, Jonathan (now in Illi- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 347 

n'ois), and Nelson, late on the old place just below Middletown 
Center. 

Joseph Ross was one of three brothers, who settled on the 
Wyalusing. Their father, Perrin, fell in the Wyoming massa- 
cre, having run down three horses to reach home the day pre- 
vious ; their mother fled over the mountains to Connecticut. 
Joseph was an active man in Middletown; his house was its 
political center. He was often engaged in surveying and locating 
roads, and from his comparative abundance of means, was called 
upon to be the succorer of others. At one time when the 
children of neighbors were crying for food, Mrs. R. had but 
a crust to give them. The spring-pestle was all the mill privi- 
lege they had for years, except when Mr. R. took corn on his 
back seventeen miles, to Black's mills below Camptown. 
When he first came up the North Branch, he crossed it eigh- 
teen times. Mrs. R. would often go with her child two or three 
miles into the woods after the cows. They had ten children, 
six of whom are now living. Of the three sons, Otis occu- 
pies the homestead; Norman is in Michigan, and Orin J. is 
in Bradford County. Mr. R. died May 10, 1855, aged eighty- 
one years. Mrs. R. April 27, 1864, in her eighty-eighth year. 
The present large house was erected over fifty years ago. 

Daniel Ross, brother of Joseph, was located near the forks of 
Wyalusing. His sons were John, William, Daniel, and Hiram. 
Jesse, the youngest son of Perrin Ross, had two sons residents 
of this county, Perrin and Isaac H. The sons of Otis Ross- are 
Joseph and Perrin S. His daughter Mary, is the postmistress at 
Middletown Center. 

In 1800, Darius Coleman settled on the North Branch, just 
below Riel Brister. His name, as well as those of all persons 
in the vicinity, is to be found on the assessment roll of " Rin- 
daw," or Rush, for 1801. He was a hunter, and in one year 
killed forty deer, besides bears, panthers, etc. He had nine 
daughters and three sons, Amos, Alonzo, and Darius. Mrs. C. 
survived her husband many years, dying but recently (late in 
1870), on the old farm to which he came seventy years ago, and 
which is now occupied by his son Alonzo. The old house was 
across the road and a little north of his present residence. 
Mr. C. was a man of peace, diligent in business, and active in the 
support of the schools of the neighborhood. His farm was on 
the line between Middletown and Rush. In the same year 
(1801), Josiah Grant was taxed for a saw-mill. 

The outlet of Wyalusing Lake, after passing through Jack- 
son Valley, runs for a mile or two in Bradford County, re-enters 
Middletown at Prattville, and falls into the North Branch two 
miles above the fort. 

At Prattville, on the road passing from the creek into Brad- 



348 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ford County, and precisely on the line is the Methodist church 
edifice, half of which is in Middletown, and this half is all the 
house of worship there is in the township. The village takes 
its name from Isaac Pratt, who came in 1801, to the farm now 
occupied by Jeremiah Canfield, Jr. He was in old Wyalusing 
as early as 1795. Eussel Pratt was his son. 

Henry Ellsworth came in prior to 1807, and settled on the 
creek near the north line of the township. His son Joseph 
began on what is called the McGrath place, afterwards occupied 
by N. Billings. 

Jonathan Ellsworth was a great hunter. One day when in 
the woods he found a long hollow tree on the ground, which, 
from the appearance of one end, he judged to be the home of 
some wild animal. He prepared to make a discovery, by a 
Putnam-like feat, and entered the hollow with his knife before 
him, drawing after him his loaded gun, muzzle hindmost, to 
serve in case he should be attacked in the rear. He emerged 
unharmed, however, with three young panthers, which he bore 
home without being disturbed. 

Between 1807 and 1811, Darius Bixby, Seymour Galutia, 
and John Holeman were added to the number of settlers of 
the township. 

" Bixby Pond," a very pretty sheet of water, takes its name 
from the second location of Darius Bixby. The town line 
passes through it, but he was on the Middletown side. His son 
Asa afterwards resided on the place. Another son, Eichard, 
settled within the limits of Rush, but has since removed. Mr. 
B.'s remains rest in Birchardville Cemetry. 

Samuel Wilson, a native of Massachusetts, and a soldier of 
1812, came from St. Lawrence County, New York, in 1813, 
with his wife and seven children. Three children were added 
to the family here. He had six sons, the oldest two being now 
dead. The four living, in their best days, weighed not less 
than seven hundred and eighty pounds altogether ; all, like 
their father, light in flesh and heavy in bone and muscle. As 
a pioneer, he acted well his part, having chopped and cleared 
more than two hundred acres of heavily timbered land in this 
county, and had chopped three hundred acres before he came 
here. He was a man of powerful frame and iron will, and 
generally succeeded in everything he undertook. He was as 
skilful with the rifle as powerful with the ax. He was for fifty- 
one years a taxable citizen of Middletown, and died on the farm 
on which he first settled, in 1864, in the eighty-fifth year of his 
age. All his sons and daughters were strong and healthy, the 
youngest being thirty-seven before death made an inroad among 
their number. Of grandchildren he had seventy-five born 
during his lifetime, of whom fifty still live (January, 1872). 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 349 

Eleven of his grandsons, together with one son-in-law, and 
four other young men married to his granddaughters, buckled 
on the implements of war and sped to their country's rescue, 
during the late rebellion. Six, alas, returned no more! Their 
remains are buried under a Southern sk}'. 

The first grist-mill within the township as it is, was put up 
by Stulph (?) Shoemaker, on one of the tributaries of the N. Br. 
of the Wyalusing, where now is a chair factory, a mile west of 
the Brister farm. Linas, son of Eiel Brister, had a grist-mill 
on the North Branch, in 1815. 

Joseph Ross built the first saw-mill at what is now called 
Middletown Center, about 1809. A few years later he built a 
grist-mill on the other end of the same dam. This he sold in 
1843, to Otis Frost; who built a new one on the site of the old 
saw mill, which had long before " gone down." Charles Tripp 
is the present owner of the property. 

In 1816, the Canfields had a saw-mill on the North Branch. 

Nathaniel Billings came in and bought a part of the Ross 
farm; afterwards he bought of J. Ellsworth the one adjoining. 
He and Silas Beardslee had framed houses. 

Andrew Canfield was then the largest resident tax-payer. 

Thomas Mitchell, Brown and Ives, Samuel Meredith, Samuel 
Wilcox, and R. H. Rose, were owners of unseated lands, but 
were non-residents. 

Beginning at the north line of Middletown, the settlers on 
the North Branch were in the following order: — 

Samuel Wilson, Henry Ellsworth, Jeremiah Canfield, Silas 
Beardslee, Amos Canfield, Joseph Ross, Albert Camp, Joseph 
Ellsworth, Andrew Canfield, Riel Brister, and Darius Coleman. 

Samuel Spafford was in the vicinity of what has since been 
known as Spafford Creek. Twenty years later, he was justice 
of the peace for Middletown, Rush, and Auburn. 

Samuel Wilson was on the North Branch where it crosses 
the line of the Apolacon. 

In 1817, Samuel and Abner Taggart were in the section since 
called Jackson Valley. Samuel, in 1847-8, served the county 
in the State Legislature. He had five children, of whom two (?), 
with a son-in-law, occupy the old homestead. 

Charles S. Campbell came also in 181.7. 

His son Charles, afterwards the first postmaster at Jackson 
Valley, removed to Friendsville, thence to Wisconsin, and is 
now in Elmira, N. Y. 

Charles S. died in 1852, at the house of his son, in Friends- 
ville. 

In 1818, Peter Saunderson, who, three years previous, had 
come from New Hampshire to Choconut, settled near those just 
mentioned, on the place now occupied by his son James. Of 



350 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

his other sons, Geo. T. is dead, and Peter has removed to the 
West. 

Isaac Benjamin and Selah Dart came to the township about 
1818. Isaac Deuel was then on the Blair place, but five years 
later removed to Rush.(?) 

In 1819, the township included at least a third of what is now 
the borough of Friendsville ; and to this section, within the 
next year or two, were added a number of new-comers. Among 
these were Thomas Christian, William Salter, Samuel Savage, 
John Buxton, and Henry M. Pierce. The majority of them 
belonged to the Society of Friends. A son of the last named, 
Henry M. Pierce, LL.D., held for many years the Presidency of 
Eutgers College, N. Y. Another son is reported, in Brace's 
California (1869), as returning the largest income in that State. 

Dr. Levi Roberts located on the turnpike, about 1822. He 
died about three years later, and was buried in Friends' burying- 
ground. 

In 1823, Eliab and John Buxton, Jr., were in Jackson Val- 
ley. They came from New Hampshire. 

Caleb C. True settled in the same vicinity, near the county 
line, but afterwards removed to Bradford County. His sons 
are Lauren, now in Iowa ; William W., in Michigan ; and Hiram 
R., who resides on the North Branch, about a mile below Mid- 
dletown Center. A rare relic — a Bible bearing date 1613 — is 
in Mr. H. R. True's possession. 

About 1829, two brothers, Jacob and Michael Andree, Dutch- 
men, who had previously come from Pittsburg to Franklin, 
where they were engaged with one Michael Dowell in boring 
the salt well, were employed by Dr. Rose and S. Milligan, Esq., 
on the salt well at Middletown Center. [See Mineral Re- 
sources.] Michael married and settled in the township, re- 
siding about two miles west of the Center until his death. 

The same year Caleb Carmalt was taxed for 1000 acres in 
Middletown. Possibly these were not within the present limits 
of the township; but he afterwards purchased lands here, in- 
cluding the Pierce farm near Friendsville, where his eldest 
daughter, Mrs. John C. Morris and her family resided ten years, 
previous to their removal to Scranton. 

While here, in 1862, Mr. Morris recruited from this and 
neighboring townships, nearly the whole of his company of 
volunteers for the national army, of which he was captain. 
He has contributed largely to advance the agricultural interests 
of this section, and for the last two years has been President of 
the State Agricultural Society. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 351 



THE WELSH SETTLEMENT. 

June, 1825, marks the arrival of David Thomas, the first 
Welshman and family in Middletown, as also the first in the 
county. He was smitten down by a sunstroke six weeks after 
he arrived, and before he had completed his house. His 
was the third family in " the Welsh settlement," which has 
always been mostly over the line in Bradford County ; so the 
widow and her six children had sympathy and care from those 
of their own tongue. David Thomas, Jr., now on the old place, 
was then but seventeen; and his brother, the present Eev. 
Thomas Thomas, was but twelve years of age. 

Joseph (or David) Jenkins, the first Welshman of the settle- 
ment, came May, 1824, to the Bradford side; but, several years 
later, he came into Middletown, and remained some years ; then 
returned to Leraysville, where he died. 

. Edward Jones, Sen., the second person in the order of settle- 
ment, came in the fall of 1824, and located just over the line. 
He had a brother, Thomas Jones, 1st. Thomas Jones, 2d, is a 
son of Edward, and is on the Susquehanna County side, as is 
also his brother James. 

Messrs. Jenkins and Jones were induced to look at land in this 
vicinity, by a Welshman in Philadelphia (Simmons), who was 
a friend of Thomas Mitchell, the landholder. The tract was 
then a wilderness, lying principally upon the hills. David 
Thomas landed at New York, went to Philadelphia, where he 
also fell in with Simmons, who recommended this locality. It 
is but three miles from Leraysville. At that time, Esquire 
Seymour had a small store at the latter point, and accommo- 
dated the incomers by selling them axes, and a few common 
articles of daily use. To examine a more extended assortment, 
though sufficiently limited, the daughter of the pioneer would 
walk seven miles by a path through the woods to Friendsville, 
after the morning's work ; would do her shopping and visit, 
then walk back, and finish the evening's work. 

Samuel Davis joined the settlement in 1831, and is now liv- 
ing with his son, John S., on a high hill this side of the county 
line. This year, the first Welsh church and school-house were 
erected on the opposite side of the line, on the hill facing the 
creek. Daniel D. Jones was the founder of the church, and its 
pastor nineteen years. He died in 1819, the year after the pres- 
ent edifice was built. 

Eev. Thomas Thomas, pastor of the Rushville and Stevens- 
ville churches, formerly preached in the Welsh settlement. 
His brother, Griffith, after making an improvement on the 
farm now occupied by J. D. Thomas, removed into Bradford 
County. 



352 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The Welsh families were mostly from Cardiganshire and 
Glanmorganshire — the latter in the southern part, and the former 
about the center of Wales. They had little sympathy with 
monarchical institutions, and one motive which induced them 
to leave the mother country, was to rid themselves of the 
obnoxious tax for the support of the established church of 
England. This amounted to one-tenth of their income ; and, 
in addition, as all are Presbyterian or Congregational in senti- 
ment, they had to support their own churches. There was 
never a Eoman Catholic among them. A majority of all the 
community are members of the Protestant church. A oneness 
of interest and feeling pervades the entire settlement. In all, 
it contains from forty-five to fifty families ; only fifteen of which 
are in Susquehanna County ; these are Evan Evans, and David 
Jones (son of John), in Apolacon ; Thomas Williams, Thomas 
Owens, John D., and David Thomas, and Samuel Davis, with 
his son John S., on farms adjoining Bradford County ; next 
east of these are Thomas J. Jones, Samuel F. Williams, James 
Jones (son of Edwin), Thomas Thomas, Henry, and David E. 
Davis, brothers and sons of Evan Davis (brother of Samuel), 
who died on the passage from Wales ; and near the north 
branch of Wyalusing, are Thomas Jones, 2d, Jenkin Jones 
(with his son John), John M. Davis (son of David, now dead), 
and Eoger Philips. 

They are principally farmers, though a few are mechanics, 
and all are readers. A large number are school-teachers — sev- 
eral being college graduates. First among the latter is Evan 
W. Evans, at present Professor of Mathematics in Cornell 
University. He is a son of Wm. Evans, whose residence is 
across the line of Bradford County; while his daughter, the 
wife of Rev. Thomas Thomas, is near him on this side. 

We are told, that when Professor Evans was a lad, his thirst 
for knowledge was so great that his father determined to send 
him to Yale College. Whilst there, he was said to be the most 
retiring, diffident, and industrious young man in the college. 

He was chief of the editors of the 'Yale Literary Magazine,' 
and graduated with special distinction in literature. His 
knowledge of geology was such, that in a sojourn in Western 
Virginia a few years ago, he was induced to enter into some 
speculations in petroleum, and acquired a large fortune. 

He is the highest authority among the scholars of our country 
on the Celtic language and literature ; and has contributed arti- 
cles to the journal of the American Philological Society on 
this subject. He was Professor of Mathematics in Marietta Col- 
lege, Ohio, but when the Faculty of Cornell University was 
organized, he was offered the distinguished position he now 
fills. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 353 

A characteristic of "Welsh names is that the omission of the 
final s changes a surname into a given name; thus, Evan 
Evans, Jenkin Jenkins, Griffith Griffiths, etc., are common in- 
stances of alliteration among them. 

Politically, the Welsh are Republican. 

On this side of the church and creek, which here crosses the 
county line, the settlement has recently been accommodated by 
the establishment of Neath Post-office, Bradford County. 

Many are the evidences of thrift and prosperity. Wheat 
on the hills ; good houses on well-cleared farms, having still 
enough forest to make the landscape picturesque ; the little 
church and the white monuments gleaming near it; the bridge 
over the winding creek below — all combine to make the locality 
inviting. 

The musical taste of the people, as well as the character and 
profession of the one it commemorates (a musician), has found 
expression in an inscription upon one of the monuments. 
Upon the marble lines of the G clef are engraved the notes 
of a tune ; to which, just below, are set the words: — 

" How blest the righteous when he dies !" 

The first interment in the burying-ground was that of a 
child of David Thomas ; its grandfather, John Howell, was 
the first adult buried here in 1834. The grave of one union 
soldier is found even in this small inclosure — that of Theron 
H. Jones, who died in the service. Alas, that the graves of 
others of Middletown, whose lives were thus sacrificed, should 
be remote and unknown. 

THE IRISH SETTLEMENT. 

It was probably through the influence of Edward White, an 
Irish gentleman, who acted as agent for Dr. Rose, that the 
lands of the latter attracted the notice of Irishmen, as early as 
1829. They were, for the most part, laborers drawn to this 
country by the demands of the public works ; from which it 
was not difficult to withdraw them when they perceived their 
opportunity to become landowners — a privilege which the 
regulations of their own country made impossible. 

James Ferris and Philip Finnelly were the first Irish settlers 
in Middletown. The following year, 1830, Patrick Magee 
(since gone West), Walter O'Flanlin, and John Murphy came. 
The latter settled on a farm partly cleared by an American. 
Thomas Colford and Bernard Keenan were here about the 
same time. 

Dennis McMahan, Dougherty, William Fennel, Edward 

Grimes, Michael Cunningham, Jos. Tierney, Michael Whalen 
23 



354 H1ST0KY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

(now in Friendsville), James Melhuish, and Michael Madden 
were among those who were here before 1840; the last named 
settled where Esq. Keeler is now. Edward Grimes' last location 
is near the Bradford County line, where he has cleared and 
cultivated a fine farm. He cleared two farms previously. 

Mr. Cunningham and Joseph Tierney bought adjoining farms 

(formerly Holeman's), on the Wolf road, of Spafford 

(American). Both occupy a ridge commanding a fine prospect. 
Mr. C. is still living, over eighty years old. A Mr. Carroll 
cleared a large farm, and then left for the West. 

The Wolf road, which is on the ridge of land between the 
present west line of Forest Lake and the North Branch, was 
so named from the fact, that after it had been marked out, at 
an early day, and before it was available for teams, it was a 
path frequented by packs of wolves. 

In 1840, there was a very large accession to the Irish settle- 
ment. James Cooney cleared a large farm, and still remains 
upon it. Michael Connaughton (now dead) was on the farm 
at present occupied by his son John. 

Hugh McDonald has cleared good farms; each of the follow- 
ing has cleared one, at least ; Daniel Farrell (on a cross-road), 

and John Fitzgerald on Wolf road; Dennis Lane and 

Holland on the road connecting the Middle Branch with the 
former, where they have good farms and buildings. Indeed, 
many of the farms cleared by the settlers, both before and after 
1840, have neat white houses, with flower gardens in front and 
barns in the rear — a striking contrast to their primitive rude 
cabins, from the doors of which pigs and poultry were not 
excluded; for once the question of obtaining food and drink 
was so difficult of solution as to leave no thought or time for 
the cultivation of taste in their surroundings. 

The roads, in general, are better than those of Silver Lake 
township, and aid materially in giving one a pleasant impres- 
sion of adjoining farms. Charles Heary cleared, on the Wolf 
road, what is called "the best farm in the township." It was 
recently sold to Patrick Hickey. 

William Monnihan (now dead) was located on the North 
Branch. Edward Eeilly, James Quigley, and others came 
about the same time as those just mentioned. 

We are indebted to our foreign population for the rescue 
from the wilderness of a large portion of the lands of Middle- 
town. Even where the immigration was subsequent to 1840, 
many of the hardships of pioneer life had to be endured ; 
though mills, roads, and a ready market had been supplied by 
the early American settlers. The latter were principally lo- 
cated in the vicinity of the North Branch of the Wyalusing. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 355 

[It will be understood that those sections not now a part of 
Middletown, are excluded from this statement.] 

Of the Irish families which have settled in the township for 
the last thirty years, and added to its thrift and controlled its 
interests, a few more are mentioned as data for a proper estimate 
of this section by those who, from birth and denominational 
prejudice, have not been able to judge fairly of its worth. 

All have paid for their farms. The people are generally 
temperate, as there is not a licensed hotel in the township. 

James Curley (now dead) had five sons, whose five farms ad- 
join along the road leading from the Wolf road to the North 
Branch. This region was a dense forest when he came in 1841. 
Lawrence, one of his sons, whose education had received atten- 
tion in Ireland, kept the first school, near the present residence 
of Edward Gillan. 

John Conboy eame to the farm begun by J. Quigley; John- 
Flynn to that begun by Mr. Dougherty, and now occupied by 
his son James; John Horrigan and Patrick Smith, to the North 
Branch ; Patrick McDonough settled opposite Hugh McDonald ; 
and Thomas Luby began on the farm now occupied by the 
widow of Farrell Millmore. F. M. was one of several who 
came from Sligo and Boscommon Counties, Ireland, in 1833, 
to assist in the construction of the Chenango canal, and after- 
wards, of the North Branch canal (in Luzerne County) ; and 
who, when the work was suspended, were scattered throughout 
the country. Dr. Rose offered them inducements to settle here, 
boarding them while they examined his land. In more than 
one instance he furnished them a cow, upon their settlement. 
He also supplied them with teams, sheep, beef, and clothing ; 
and, according to their own statement, " never pushed any man 
for pay." 

Unlike many of the early English settlers on his lands, the 
Irish appeared to have been abundantly satisfied. The reason 
is doubtless due, in part, to a difference of national tempera- 
ment; but, in a greater measure, to an absence of the high 
expectations which the English entertained, and to the contrast 
in their transatlantic life. 

Politically, with few exceptions, the Irish are democratic, in 
the party sense of that term ; and denominationally, Roman 
Catholic. Their chapel, just over the line in Rush, accommo- 
dates both townships. Wra. Golden's farm is near it. 

Thomas Moran, Degnan, Brennan, Leary, 

Mark and Michael Keogh, McCormick, and Edw. Gillan, 

were all here before 1850. A son of the last named was edu- 
cated at St. Joseph's College, Choconut, and is a teacher of 
some note in the county. There is some ambition among the 



356 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

people to give their children educational advantages, still their 
schools have had but few good teachers. 

Francis Keenan is the present justice of the peace in Middle- 
town. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

JESSUP. 



This township, named in honor of Judge Jessup, was erected 
from parts of Bridgewater and Rush, with a small portion of 
Middletown, in April, 1846. It is nearly four and a half miles 
square. A slight variation in the line between Jessup and 
Bridgewater has since been made to accommodate families in 
the northeast corner of the former, and has resulted in the 
erection of the Chapman Independent School District, com- 
prising portions of three townships. An addition to Jessup on 
the west has been made by taking about eighty rods from Rush, 
from the Wyalusing road to the north line of the township. 

Jessup is traversed by the Wyalusing Creek, its course being 
nearly due west two miles, from the east line of the township, 
then southwest about two miles, whence it runs west with little 
variation beyond the line of Rush. 

The Wyalusing in Jessup has three or four tributaries on 
the north ; on the south, one, South Creek, the source of which 
is near Milton Hunter's residence in Bridgewater. The outlet 
of Forest Lake has its junction with the main stream at Fair- 
dale ; Birchard Creek, at " Bolles' Flat ;" and the mouth of a 
third Creek running between Porter Ridge and Stuart Street 
(set off to Jessup in January, 1854), is nearly at the west line 
of the township. 

Fire Hill — so named because of a succession of destructive 
fires along its summit — is the long, high ridge south of the 
Wyalusing and west of the ridge bordering South Creek, on the 
southwest. It nearly covers the Roberts District. 

Dutch Hill — settled by persons of Dutch descent, but born 
in New York — comprises the section north of the Wyalu- 
sing and east of Forest Lake Creek. Between these hills is 
another, which, with equal propriety, might be called "Jersey " 
Hill. 

Jessup, at the time of its first settlement, was in the remain- 
ing portion of old Tioga, Luzerne County ; but, soon after, was 
included in Rush, as originally bounded. To the settlers from 
Connecticut it was known as Manor in the eastern, and Usher 



CONNECTICUT SURVEY. 




CONNECTICUT SURVEY. 




0JTA Wli BY MISS H.O.B. 



MANOR. 

Delaware Firai Ptircha.sr 



No. 1. 



No. 4. 

F. 

J. 

N. 

S. 

W. 

M. 

K. 

No. 7. 

13. 

17. 



ELK LAKE. 
EZEKIEL MOWRY. 
GEORGE MOWRY 
CHARLES MOWRY 
EZEK'EL MAINE. 
MEACHAM MAINE. 
JEREMIAH MEACHAM. 
NEHEMIAH MAINE. 
SAMUEL MAINE. 
STEPHEN WILSON. 

SUBSEQUENT LOCATION OF MONTROSE. 
JOHN REYNOLDS. 
OZEM COOK. 
ASAHEL AVERY 
SAMUEL COGGSWELL. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 357 

in the western part, of the " Delaware First Purchase," as dis- 
tinguished from the lands claimed by Connecticut along the 
Susquehanna. The first settlers of Jessup located with their 
families on and near Bolles' Flat, March 10th, 1799. The men 
may have been on the ground during the previous summer. 
They were Ebenezer Whipple, his step-son Ezra Lathrop, and 
Abner Griffis. They came from Otsego County, N. Y. In the 
same company there were Wm. Lathrop, brother of Ezra, and 
Nathan Tupper, both of whom located below the present limits 
of Jessup. 

Four brothers, Samuel, Nehemiah, Ezekiel, and Meacham 
Maine came from the East about the same time with those just 
mentioned. Samuel Maine is mentioned in Mr. Miner's list of 
early Wyalusing settlers, as here, with a family of seven, in 
1798 ; but from other sources of information it seems evident 
they did not precede Mr. Whipple. Samuel and Meacham 
Maine were in Usher, and the other brothers in Manor. Ezekiel 
Maine, Jr., was born on " the Shay farm " where his father 
began his clearing, and where David Turrell afterwards lived. 
It was once known as Maine Hill. His farm was east of that 
of his brother Samuel, who was located on the fiat at the junction 
of South Creek with the Wyalusing. Two or three old apple 
trees now designate the spot. He sold the farm (or whatever 
title he may have had to it — one derived from Connecticut) to 
Samuel Lewis, his brother-in-law, who came a year later ; and 
he then moved to what is now called the Hunter farm — once 
Butterfield's. 1 Meacham Maine was on the water-shed between 
the two principal creeks emptying into the Wyalusing from 
the south. He and his brother Samuel removed to Indiana 
prior to 1813. Nehemiah Maine's location was first in what is 
now Bridgewater, but very soon after, where Urbane Smith 
lives in Dimock. 

Other settlers of 1799 were Holden Sweet, Zebdial Lathrop, 
and Eben Ingram. Jeremiah Meacham, John Reynolds, and 
Daniel Foster were here to select their lands, and the first two 
rolled up cabins. The same year, Holden Sweet began the first 
grist-mill (now Depue's) in a portion of which he and his family 
lived. In less than two years — after spending all his property 
in trying in vain to bring the water in troughs for a quarter of 
a mile — he became discouraged; changed situations with Abner 
Griffis, and cultivated his improvements, while Mr. G., in a few 

1 The location given to Samuel Maine on the map of Manor is the place he 
sold to Joseph Butterfield, about 1812. There is a discrepancy in the statement 
respecting his location, as, in 1801, the court record places his name where 
Meacham M.'s appears on the map. Another authority confirms the record, 
stating that the latter was on " the water-shed " between two creeks running 
north into the Wyalusiug. 



358 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

months, succeeded in starting the mill. For more than a year 
it was without a bolt; and he sold a cow to procure one. Pre- 
vious to this the settlers found the nearest mills at the mouth of 
the Wyalusing, and at Frenchtown, 20 miles distant. 

Zebdial Lathrop was located north of E. Whipple, on the 
place now occupied by H. "Whitney * he died more than thirty 
years ago. Zebdial, Jr., removed to Rush, afterwards to Iowa, 
where he died. Ruby, sister of the latter, and now Mrs. Ros- 
well Morse, resides in Rush; another sister, Mrs. John Han- 
cock, is dead. 

Jeremiah Meacham selected the farm adjoining Ezekiel 
Maine's on the east. He then returned to Connecticut for his 
family, and arrived here — nine in all — on the 1st of March, 

1800. They came via, Great Bend to H. Tiffany's in "Nine 
Partners," and from thence to Stephen Wilson's, and found but 
one house between — that of Jos. Chapman in what is now 
Brooklyn. Upon reaching Ezekiel Maine's, and finding no 
path beyond, the family halted until a road was cut. There 
was not a nail in Mr. Meacham's house, the shingles being held 
on with poles. 

The east line of Jessup passes through the house occupied 
by his son Sheldon, until his recent decease, on the farm 
cleared by Mr. M., and where he died. A part of the estate 
passed to the late Jeremiah Meacham, Jr., who resided on it 
until a few years since. In early life he united with the Bap- 
tist church, in which he was deacon for many years. As an 
upright, honest, Christian man, his name and character are 
without blemish. He died in Montrose, February 24, 1871, 
aged seventy-eight years. [The compiler received from him 
the original map of the survey of " Manor," and several items 
of much interest.] 

John Reynolds and Daniel Foster came, the second time, 
from Long Island, in company with Bartlet Hinds, of Bridge- 
water, in May, 1800. They lived in the cabin that Mr. Rey- 
nolds had built the previous year; and to this, in the next fall, 
Mr. Foster and his family came. His son Walter was then in 
his eighth year. He says : — 

"The cabin had no floor, except that mother had a short board to keep 
her feet warm. When Mr. Reynolds brought his family in the spring of 

1801, father moved into his own house across the creek, Mr. Reynolds being 
on the left bank, on a knoll still marked by the remains of the old chimney 
and foundation of the house. He had the first fulling-mill in Jessup. Its 
site is marked by the stone chimney left standing when the building was 
burned. For some years, his family occupied a part of it. My father built, 
in 1812, a framed house, also on the right bank, but a few rods further west. 
He paid for his land twice, — first to his friend Mr. Reynolds, who held a 
Connecticut title only, and afterwards to the Wallace estate, or rather to 
Peter Graham, to whom the obligation was transferred. After giving to 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 359 

the latter one hundred and thirty acres and the saw-mill, he had two hundred 
and fifty acres left." 

Mr. Foster died in 1829, and the place, until within a few 
years, was occupied by Walter Foster, since a resident of Mon- 
trose, but who deceased in September, 1872, at the residence of 
his son, near Scranton. The death of Mrs. Walter F. occurred 
at the same place the preceding February. 

Ichabod Halsey came with Messrs. Reynolds and Foster, in 
1800. and began on the farm now occupied by the Roy brothers. 

Samuel Lewis, with five in his family, and James Carroll, also 
with five, were included in Mr. Miner's list of fifty persons, old 
and young, who were, in 1800, on the Wyalusing between Fair- 
dale and the present east line of Rush. 

Charles Miner was on the Wyalusing in 1799 and 1800, and 
took up two lots, one on the farm now occupied by Buckingham 
Stuart, where he cleared four acres and sowed it with wheat. 
This he harvested in the fall, and while it was in the stack, it 
was destroyed by bears. The place is still known as Miner 
Hill. The other lot was located where Benajah Chatfield after- 
wards lived, and is now occupied by Lyman Picket. Here Mr. 
M. built a bark cabin, and, with the assistance of a man who came 
with him, commenced chopping ; but, being unaccustomed to 
the business, he made slow progress. He soon cut his foot, and 
was taken to Mr. Whipple's, where he was cared for for several 
weeks. "When he got well, his taste for farming subsided," 
says a son of Mr. Whipple, "and he began to think he had 
mistook his calling." Mr. Miner's own account of his experi- 
ences about that time, was given in a letter read at the Pioneer 
Festival, Montrose, June 2, 1858, in which, after mentioning 
that he and a Mr. Chase went from Mr. Parke's to the Forks of 
the Wyalusing, he says: — 

'' Mr. Bronson piloted us to lot 39 in Usher. The vocabulary of us in- 
truding Yankees spoke of Usher, Ruby, Locke, Manor, Dandolo, and Bid- 
well, as our recognized localities. A hill, descending gently to the south for 
half a mile ; a spring gushing from its side, running through groves of sugar 
maple, beech, cherry, whitewood, and here and there a monster of a hemlock, 
through swales now green with springing grass; we made a bark cabin, open 
in front to a huge log against which our fire was kindled ; a bed of hemlock- 
boughs ; each a blanket; a six-quart camp-kettle to boil our chocolate; 
plates and dishes made from the soft whitewood or maple. Here we took up 
our quarters for the summer (1799). Chopped awkwardly, slept soundly, 
except being awaked too early from our town habits by the stamping deer, 
for we had taken possession of a favorite runway. This, if my memory is 
correct, was about two 1 miles west from where Montrose was afterwards 
located. That summer and the next, population poured in rapidly under 

1 In his history of Wyoming, he gives it three miles west, which is nearer 
correct. He probably supposed Montrose located on the old road to Great Bend, 
which ran farther west than the present one. 



360 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the auspices of Col. Ezekiel Hyde, our Yankee leader. His headquarters 
were at Rindaw. 

"From Wilson's, down the east branch of the Wyalusing to the Forks, 
were Maine, Lathrop, Whipple, Sweet, Griffis, Tupper, Picket (the famous 
' painter' killer), and Beaumont; on the middle branch, at the large salt 
spring, the Birchards, I think the first and only inhabitants of Ruby; on the 
north branch, in Locke, the Canfields and Brister, the renowned wolf-slayer. 
The Parkes were the only settlers in Bidwell, as Wilson was in the Manor. 
[The map shows his location just outside of Manor.] 

"Was it a time of suffering? No! no! of pleasurable excitement [Mr. 
M. was then but nineteen years of age], of hope, health, and mutual kindness. 
Novelty gilded the scene. There was just enough of danger, toil, and pri- 
vation to give life a relish. 

" My Sunday home was at Mr. Whipple's, whose residence was on the Wya- 
lusing, a mile south of us. He was a capital hunter. An anecdote will give 
you his character. Just at dusk, he returned from the woods in high spirits. 
' I have him — a large bear — we will go out in the morning and fetch him in !' 
Behold ! as he had shot in the twilight, he had killed Nathan Tupper's only 
cow. Mr. Whipple, the most fore-handed settler, had three. ' Neighbor 
Tupper,' said he, 'I am sorry — it was an accident. Now choose of mine 
which you please.' 'I won't take your best; let me have old Brindle; she is 
worth more than mine,' said Mr. Tupper; and the matter was settled by that 
higher law, ' Do as you would be done by.' Not an instance of dishonesty, or 
even of unkindness, do I remember. Grain was scarce, mills distant ; a 
maple stump was burned hollow for a mortar, early corn pounded ; the good 
Mrs. Whipple stewed pumpkins, and of the mixture made capital bread. 

"The rifle of Mr. Whipple furnished abundance of venison. Deer were 
plenty — a few elk remained — on the river hills that encircled us, there were 
the pilot and rattlesnake, where annual fires prevailed. In the deep shade 
of the dense forest they had not yet penetrated." 

J. W. Chapman, Esq., relates the following : — 

" Mr. Whipple happened along one day with his rifle, where my father 
and Mr. Jeremiah Gere were chopping trees, and stopped to talk a few min- 
utes of his exploits in shooting partridges. ' What !' inquired one of them, 
'you don't shoot them with a rifle-ball, do you?' 'Of course,' replied he. 
• I always take their heads off with a ball, rather than mangle their bodies 
with shot,' continued he. They looked at each other with a somewhat incred- 
ulous glance, as if suspecting it to be rather a tough yarn ; when one of them 
happened to espy a couple of those birds a few rods off, hopping up at each 
other, in play or fight. ' There's a chance for you, Mr. Whipple,' said he ; 'if 
you can shoot off a pheasant's head with a ball, let's see it.' The old man 
deliberately drew up his rifle, and quietly said, ' Wait till they get in range ;' 
and the next moment pop went the rifle, and sure enough both their heads 
were taken off by the ball ! Their incredulity vanished, while the old hunter 
walked off with his game in triumph." 

In these early times he killed, besides other game, as many 
as one hundred deer in a year. 

Cyrus Whipple, a son of Ebenezer, now living in Iowa, 
writes : — 

" I was five years old when my father emigrated from Otsego County, New 
York, to the banks of the Wyalusing. Soon after there came a freshet, 
the creek overflowed its banks, and a portion of its current swept through 
our cabin, running near our fireplace a foot deep or more. I remember my 
mother's washing and dipping up the water by the side of her kettle. This 
was our introduction to pioneer life." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 361 

He also states, that Mr. Miner after he went to Wilkes-Barre, 
and after his marriage, came several times to see his father. 

" On one of these visits Mr. Miner said, ' I tell my wife, sometimes, I never 
enjoyed life so well as I did when I lived away up in the woods with Uncle 
Whipple ; and she'll box my ears for it.' On another occasion my father re- 
lated to him a wolf story, which Mr. Miner published fifteen or twenty years 
after my father's decease, adding : ' The noble old hunter now sleeps in the 
bosom of that soil of which he was one of the pioneers, after having filled up 
and rounded off an amiable, useful, and blameless life.' " 

Ebenezer Whipple occupied the centre of the Flat seven years. 
He sold his possession to Peter Stevens. He afterwards lived 
on the Carrier place, where he died in 1826, aged seventy-two. 

There were then heroines as well as heroes. A sister of 
Cyrus Whipple's, then a young girl, saw a deer in the creek as 
she was passing by, and called at a house for a man to shoot it. 
As it happened, only the lady of the house was in ; she took 
the gun and accompanied the girl within shooting distance, but 
then her courage failed. The girl herself now rose to the oc- 
casion. Seizing the gun, she fired, and instantly a famous buck 
lay splashing in the water. 

One day in the absence of her husband, Mrs. Cyrus W. saw a 
ferocious wild-cat within a few rods of the house. It caught a 
goose and began to eat it. The thought, that it might at an- 
other time make a meal of one of her children, nerved her, 
though naturally a very timid woman, to sally forth with a 
rifle to shoot it. When she came near, it placed its paws upon 
a log, and gave a growl of defiance; then she brought the rifle 
to bear upon it, and the next moment it lay lifeless. 

A road was petitioned for in 1801, " to run by Abner Griffis' 
grist-mill." Another, "to begin between the houses of Ezra 
Lathrop and Abner Griffis on the Wyalusing Creek road, to in- 
tersect the Nicholson road near the house of Joseph Chapman, 
Jr." (on the Hopbottom). Of this, John Eobinson, S. Wilson, 
Jabez A. Birchard, and Myron Kasson were viewers. Another, 
to begin "between the houses of Ebenezer Whipple and Ezra 
Lathrop, and run north past Zebdial Lathrop's to Ellicott's road, 
near the 84th mile-tree." Another, petitioned for by Ichabod 
Halsey and others, " to cross the Wyalusing at Foster's saw- 
mill," etc. 

David Doud was on the Wyalusing as early as 1801, and oc- 
cupied the first clearing of Mr. Miner. 

David Olmstead was in as early as 1802. He was born in 
Norwalk, Connecticut ; was a soldier of the Revolution, in the 
northern campaign under Gen. Gates, also with Washington in 
his retreat from New York, and at Ticonderoga. One of the 
marked features of his character was a devoted attachment to 
the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church. He died in Jessup 
(then Bridgewater) November 29th, 1829. 



362 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Samuel Lewis was located near him. In an advertisement, in 
1802, the latter gives his address as Usher, Headwaters of the 
Wyalusing, Luzerne County. 

About half a mile above the location of Mr. Griffis' mill, 
Jacob Cooley built a still (distillery) in the year 1803. This 
undertaking failed in less than seven years. During this time 
he lost two children ; one being drowned in the creek, the 
other scalded in the still. 

He bought the mill of Griffis, about 1804, and built the first 
dam near the mill, of poles. He lived in the mill until 1811, 
when he rented the place to D. Lampson for two years, and left ; 
when he returned, he built a house just above, on the same side 
of the road, opposite the present residence of B. Bolles. 

From Cooley, the mill passed into the hands of Jesse Ross; 
from him, to his son Isaac H. ; from him, to his brother Perrin ; 
then to Asa and Adolphus Olmstead ; next, to Mason Denison; 
and successively to Samuel Bertholf, Benjamin Depue, Timothy 
Depue, and to his son T. J. Depue, the present owner. 

Abner Griffis had five sons: Solomon, Ezekiel, John, Elisha, 
and Robert. The last named went to his present location in 1814, 
and his father made his home with him the year following, but 
afterwards spent some time with Solomon in Otsego County, 
New York; then returned to Jessup, but finally died at Solo- 
mon's. Of the latter, Mr. Miner says : " He was the beau of the 
Wyalusing; he had a fine form, a ruddy cheek, bright eye, 
pleasant smile, manly expression, and — with the rifle — no 
superior." 

If Mr. Miner's recollections of the pioneers of Jessup were 
all pleasant, their remembrance of him was equally so, and 
blended with pride in his after-course — the success he achieved 
— and the eminent service he was able to render to others. 
After he went to Wilkes-Barre, he was a teacher, then editor of 
the ' Luzerne Federalist.' 

January, 1804, he married Miss Letitia Wright, of the same 
place. 

In 1811 he, with Mr. Butler, established the ' Gleaner,' which 
became very popular. He was afterwards editor of the 'True 
American,' and of the 'Political and Commercial Register' of 
Philadelphia; and was twice a colleague of Buchanan in the 
State Legislature. His ' History of Wyoming' is completely ex- 
haustive of the subject of Connecticut claims in this region, 
and is a standard work. He died when more than eighty years 
of age. 

Levi Leonard, of Rush, is said to have been the first teacher 
in Jessup. Another authority gives Hosea Tiffany, of Harford, 
as the first. 

In the spring of 1807, on the last day of March or the first 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 363 

of April, there was four feet of snow on the ground. Mr. J. 
Meacham's wife and three daughters were then all confined to 
their beds with sickness. Dr. Fraser came from Great Bend to 
attend them. Their fire-wood being exhausted they were 
obliged to burn the fence, as the woods, though only eight or ten 
rods off, were inaccessible by the ox team. There were no 
drifts on account of the woods. For seven days it was cold, 
blowing weather ; then the sun shone out; and in the little 
clearings the snow melted so rapidly, that with the large amount 
in the woods, it caused what is known as "the great flood." 

Matthias Smith was a settler of 1808. His first wife, who 
died early, was a daughter of Ebenezer Whipple. 

William C. Turrell's farm adjoined that of M. Smith on one 
side, and of Asa Olmstead on the other. He was here some 
time prior to 1810. 

Col. Turrell's log-house was on that part of his farm now 
owned by Dr. N. P. Cornwell, on the same side of the road as 
the house of the latter, but west of it, on the flat. The place 
was known by the name of " Turrell's Flat." 

In 1811 he was chosen Lt.-Col. of the 129th Eegiment Penn- 
sylvania militia, and was always an active and influential man 
in the township. About thirty years ago he went West, and 
died there some time afterwards. His brother David's farm 
adjoined that of Lyman Cook, which was next to William C. 
Turrell's on the east, near Fairdale. He also went West, and 
died in Michigan, in 1849, aged 66. Another brother, with the 
christian name of Doctor, made an improvement early, where 
William Eobertson now lives, on Dutch Hill. 

Eobinson Bolles came from Groton, New London County, 
Connecticut, in the autumn of 1810, with his wife and nine chil- 
dren. They were twenty days on their journey — their wagon 
drawn by horses — two days being required from New Milford 
to the former location of Ebenezer Whipple. This had been 
sold to Peter Stevens, from whom Mr. Bolles purchased. The 
house stood in the center of the flat, but the latter afterwards 
built, on the north side of the road, the large house now owned 
by his grandson, Amos, a son of Simeon A. Bolles. 

The sons of Robinson Bolles were Simeon A., Abel, Nelson, 
Elkanah, John, James, and Lyman. He also had five daughters. 
The most of his descendants settled within the county, and 
several in Jessup. He was highly respected for his strict integ- 
rity and love of justice. He died in 1842, aged seventy-six; 
his widow died ten years later, aged eighty-four. 

In 1812 Zephaniah Cornell settled in that part of Bridge- 
water, now in the extreme northeast corner of Jessup, the farm 
of two hundred acres extending into Forest Lake. 

In 1828 he sold the lower part of it to Marvin Hall, and 



364 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

moved to the north part — now known as Cornell Hill; he after- 
wards bought out Mr. Hall, returned to the old homestead, leav- 
ing the Forest Lake part of the farm to his son, S. D. Cornell, 
who still occupies it. He died in Jessup December 8, 1871, 
aged nearly eighty-nine. 

The first settler on Dutch Hill was a native of Conn., Lemuel 
Wallbridge, who was located, as early as 1812, near its top. 
That year, Christian Shelp, originally from New York, and of 
Dutch descent, came from Milford, and bought of Dr. Eose 
four hundred acres, just below Mr. Wallbridge. Henry Pruyne, 
father-in-law of Mr. Shelp, accompanied the latter from Great 
Bend, where he had settled two years previous. He was a 
soldier of the Kevolution and a pensioner. His death occurred 
in 1843, and that of his widow, Rachel, the following year, at 
the age of eighty-one. 

Charles Davis, a son-in-law of Mr. Shelp, came in about the 
same time with the latter, and settled near him. The sons of 
Christian Shelp were John, Nathaniel, Henry, Christian, Jr., and 
Stephen. The Shelps were the first of the Dutch families in 
Jessup. Henry S. now lives on the same place where his father 
lived forty years ago. [The Shays were the first family from 
New Jersey, and came twenty-five years later.] 

Dutch Hill is noted for its famous yields of maple sugar. 

The improvement of Doctor Turrell (before mentioned) was 
just below Mr. Shelp's. It was purchased by the Wallbridges 
(Lemuel and son Henry), and sold by them to John Robertson ; 
the lot being the southern limit of the lands of Dr. R. H. Rose. 

In the spring of 1812 Buckingham Stuart and Isaac Hart 
left the town of Hinesburg, Vermont, and arrived, the second 
day of April, at Col. Turrell's, now Fairdale, journeying on foot. 

Mr. S. was a carpenter and joiner, and a millwright; and he 
worked at his trade a number of years, principally along the 
Wyalusing Creek. 

In 1813 Nathaniel Stuart, father of the above, came in and 
took up three hundred acres just below Reynolds and Foster. 
His son, Nathan, who came the same year, returned to Vermont, 
and there lost his wife and four daughters by drowning in a 
freshet. 

Mrs. Cyrus Whipple was a daughter of Nathaniel Stuart ; 
she died in Dimock. 

Abraham, son of Nathaniel S., died in Auburn; Isaac in 
Iowa ; his daughter, Mrs. Luman Ferry, is dead ; Mrs. Law- 
rence Meacham is in Auburn ; two other daughters have left 
the county. 

Buckingham Stuart married Cynthia H. Agard, a sister of 
Levi S. Agard, and, in 1819, removed to the farm where he now 
resides. This is the same farm where Mr. Miner began, in 1799, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 365 

which D. Doud bought in 1801, and which, in 1809, was occu- 
pied by Ichabod Terry ; afterwards by Levi S. Agard, who died 
there, and was succeeded by Mr. Stuart. The latter is now 
(1872) eighty-two years old ; has hud three sons and one 
daughter. 

Fire Hill was settled in 1812 by Hart Roberts, who after- 
wards went West and died. Henry Bertholf now owns his 
place. 

Prior to 1813 there were other "new-comers" mentioned on 
the tax-list, among whom were : William A. Burnham, where 
James Carroll first settled, and now the Walker farm ; John 
Blaisdell, from Massachusetts, on Porter Ridge ; Israel Birch- 
ard, from Forest Lake, where he located in 1801; Jacob and 
John Bump, on the hill north of Dr. Cornwell's; James Cook, 
where Cyrus Sheets now lives. The sons of Israel Birchard 
were Pliny, Harry A., Jesse, Upson, Horace, Ralph, Lyman, 
and Lucius; and several of his descendants are now residents 
of the township. His life is said to have been an undeviating 
example of integrity. He died in Jessup December, 1818, aged 
fifty-three. 

Jonas Fuller, a millwright, came from Vermont in 1813 ; the 
next year he looked for land, and bought one hundred acres, 
then in Bridgewater, but now on the line between Jessup and 
Dimock. He is now a resident of Auburn, and is nearly or 
quite eighty years old. He narrates many incidents of the early 
times. At one time when passing between Elk Lake and Coo- 
ley's Mill he met a wolf. Neither saw the other until they 
were a few feet apart, when Mr. F. raised his arms, and, giving 
a loud yell, so frightened it that it turned and ran away. 

Champlin Harris, then boarding with Mr. Fuller, with a trap 
caught at least a dozen bears and wolves. He was noted for 
prowess in hunting. He settled in Jessup on the present loca- 
tion of Samuel Warner. 

Lory Stone, a native of Litchfield County, Conn., came in 
1814 to the farm where he died October 31, 1&71, in his eighty- 
third year. Mrs. S. survived him only one week, and died at 
the age of seventy-nine. They were the parents of the present 
postmaster at Montrose. Another son resides upon the home- 
stead. 

The same year Benajah Chatfield came from Vermont, and 
occupied one of the clearings made by Charles Miner; Salmon 
Bradshaw came from Connecticut, and settled where Matthew 
McKeeby now is ; and Christopher Sherman, where Jasper Run- 
dall lives. Christopher Sherman's sons were Jonathan C, 
Jesse, and Abel. Their father had been a soldier of the Revo- 
lution. He died in 1835. Benajah Chatfield died the same 
year, aged seventy-three; his widow, December, 1843, aged 
seventy-eight. 



366 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Before the close of 1815 David Sherer, with his son-in-law, 
John Robertson, and their families, came from New Hampshire. 
The former bought of Henry Wallbridge the farm now owned 
bj E. J. Jagger, who purchased it of D. Sherer in 1837. 
John Robertson lived twenty years on what is known now as 
the Steiger farm, and then purchased the place where he now 
lives with his son William. He had five sons. The sons of 
David Sherer were John, who became a Presbyterian minister ; 
William, who was a physician in Virginia and Kentucky, and 
died in the latter State ; James and Samuel, at present residents 
of Dimock. Their father died on the farm they now occupy, 
in 1846, aged eighty-seven. He left Ireland when five years 
old ; was a Revolutionary soldier when aged eighteen, and was 
at the battle of Stillwater, the surrender of Burgoyne, and 
with Washington in the encampment at Valley Forge. He 
became a Presbyterian, and was a consistent church member 
for the last fifty-five years of his life. 

His daughter Mary (Mrs. Baldwin of New York) was one of 
the early teachers of the township. David Robertson, son of 
John, was also a teacher about forty years ago. 

In 1816 John A. Patch came to what is called "the Abel 
Sherman farm," when that was in Bridgewater, and remained 
on it until 1831. He died in the township March, 1840. His 
widow, Polly, is still living. The family consisted of seven 
sons and four daughters. Three of the latter now live in the 
county ; one son, Joseph H., is in Forest Lake, the others are 
either dead or out of the county. Benjamin L., the youngest, 
has been, for several years, a president judge in Carroll County, 
Illinois. 

In the same year Reynolds and Frost were in partnership as 
clothiers. 

In 1817 Thomas H. Doyle was a cloth dresser, six miles from 
Montrose on the Wyalusing road, and in 1818 Isaac H. Ross 
and Jonathan C. Sherman took the same stand — the house is 
now a part of Depue's mills. 

In 1819 James Young, Sen., a native of Scotland, came from 
the vicinity of Philadelphia, and settled in that part of Jessup 
once Bridgewater. He had started for Silver Lake, having 
heard flattering accounts of the lands of Dr. Rose, but upon 
reaching the place of J. W. Robinson, in what is now Dimock, 
he was induced to purchase land belonging to the Wallace 
estate (now in Jessup), about three-fourths of a mile west of B. 
McKenzie. Here his family occupied a log-house, without a 
door, as many had done before them. Such hardships, however, 
seem not to have shortened the lives of the pioneers ; Mr. Y. 
lived to be seventy-three, and his wife, who died in 1862, nine- 
teen years later, was over ninety years of age. The farm is now 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 367 

owned and occupied by their son James. Mr. Y. left this place 
two years after he came to it, and lived, perhaps, a dozen years 
on the Mallery farm before returning to the old homestead. 

George Clagget made the first improvement on the corner 
where Dr. N. P. Cornwell has been located since 1837. It was a 
part of Col. Turrell's farm ; Curtis Bliss owned it in 1820. The 
latter and John Shelp went through western New York on a 
tour of exploration about this time, and, in a letter soon after 
published in Waldie's 'Messenger' (at Montrose), he says: — 

"As to tbe soil we are satisfied from what we saw, and from the informa- 
tion we received of the amount of crops raised where we have been, that if 
we and our neighbors will cultivate our soil as it ought to be cultivated, there 
are few places which we have seen on our route that will be able to claim a 
superiority over us as to quantity of produce, and certainly none as to 
value." 

Two of his neighbors took nearly the same route, soon after, 
to judge for themselves of the correctness of Mr. Bliss' state- 
ments, and add : — 

"Though our soil generally is not equal to some that may be found west- 
ward, yet, independent of the sickness interrupting the labors of a farmer on 
the flats, our crops, acre for acre, are worth much more here than there. There 
is one thing well known to all the settlers in our county — that the soil here is 
very lasting — for the oldest farms, when ploughed and properly cultivated, 
produce the best crops, better than new lands." 

Mr. Bliss states : — 

" I have been in thirteen States of the Union, and in comparison with all 
the parts that I have seen (taking into view the price of land and the uncom- 
mon healthiness of this county), I can truly say I think there is every reason 
for the inhabitants of Susquehanna County to be satisfied with it." 

The first post-office was established in 1829 at Fairdale, 
Asa Olrnstead, postmaster. It is spoken of as re-established in 
1842, Daniel Hoff, postmaster. 

About twenty years ago another post-office was opened on 
Porter Eidge, Pliny Birchard, postmaster. On his resignation 
Eobert Griffis, Esq., was appointed postmaster, just at the 
expiration (under the new Constitution) of his term as justice 
of the peace. He held the latter office, by appointment and 
election, about thirty years, and the post-office ten years; but 
the mail is now discontinued at that point. 

Elder William Brand was located in Jessup in 1832, having 
then but recently arrived from Portsmouth, England, where 
he was settled many years as a Baptist minister. One of his 
daughters was a successful teacher in Montrose. She married 
Kev. Justin A. Smith, D.D., now of Chicago, in which city she 
died in Septemb^*, 1871. Eld. B. removed some years ago. 

Dr. William Bissel came into the county in 1827. He was 
then a medical student with Dr. Samuel Bissel of Brooklyn. 
In Nov. 1831 he read with Dr. Fraser, and was for two years in 



368 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

business with Dr. Leet at Friendsville; then came to Jessup, 
not far from his present location, on one of the early clearings 
of John Blaisdell. Elder Brand also occupied one of these 
clearings. 

In 1837, the Eush Baptist church was organized at the Bolles 
school-house, and, twenty-five years later, also the Jessup Sol- 
diers' Aid Society. The old building stood on the corner op- 
posite the present neat structure, near the grave-yard. 

The first officers appointed by the court after the erection of 
Jessup were: L. W. Birchard, constable; John Bedell, Orrin 
S. Beebe, Waller Olmstead, supervisors. 

The first officers elected by the people : L. W. Birchard, 
constable; John Bedell, James Waldie, and Walter Foster, 
supervisors; Elkanah Bolles, clerk ; Asa Olmstead, treasurer ; 
Lory Stone, assessor; Erastus V. Cook, Joseph W. Smith, and 
David S. Robertson, auditors; J. C. Sherman, Henry Shelp, 
Simeon A. Bolles, John Hancock, Waller Olmstead, and Horace 
Smith, school directors; John Hancock, judge of elections; 
James Bolles, Asa Olmstead, and Jeremiah Baldwin, inspectors ; 
Joseph W. Smith, justice of the peace. 

There is now in the possession of Edgar W. Bolles the trunk 
of a hemlock two and a half feet in diameter, bearing unmis- 
takable internal marks of a sharp tool in several places. The 
tree fell in 1851, and opened in such a way as to show the 
marks, which, from the subsequent layers of wood, are sup- 
posed to have been made more than two hundred years ago. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

FOREST LAKE. 

In 1835 viewers were appointed to mark the bounds of a 
new township to be taken from parts of Middletown, Bridge- 
water, and Silver Lake. Their report was accepted by the 
court May, 1836; and the twenty-second township was named 
Forest Lake from a small sheet of water near its former center. 
The west line of Bridgewater previously passed through it. 

The new township was about four miles east and west by five 
miles north and south ; but it has since been twice enlarged by 
the reduction of Middletown. The middle branch of the Wya- 
1 using rising in the northwest, and the outlet of the lake, 
flowing into the east branch, principally dr«in the township ; 
though Choconut and Silver creeks have their sources in the 
northern and eastern parts. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 369 

The Milford and Owego turnpike (completed December, 1821) 
crosses the township, diagonally, from southeast to northwest, 
overtopping the high hills, and coursing down them to leap, but 
never to follow, the narrow streams. In extenuation of its route, 
it is said, the road was built to accommodate the early settlers, 
who were fond of locating on the tops of hills ; not only because 
the soil was better than in the valleys, but also because of the wider 
prospect. A writer in 1832 says of this turnpike — 

"Any one who has toiled over its endless hills will recollect them, and for 
those who have not, a description is useless. Like the Falls of Niagara they 
must be seen to be wondered at. Few teams from Montrose proceed further 
than the Apolacon road ; for though the distance is greater by three or four 
miles, the latter route is preferred, and can be traveled in a shorter time. 
Still, before you get here, fifteen long miles over fifteen dreary hills have to 
be traversed." 

Written as this was, at a time when it was sought to bring 
everything to bear favorably upon the interests of the western 
part of the county, and when a railroad from the Lackawanna 
coal field to Owego was in contemplation, one might have been 
tempted to exaggerate existing inconveniences; but impartial 
criticism will sustain the writer. A gentleman traveling over 
the road for the first time, on arriving at the hotel, in Montrose, 
remarked before several gentlemen (one of whom located it), 
"There's just one mistake they made when they laid out that 
road." " Ah ! what's that ?" was asked. " Back here there's a 
piece of level land, whereas, if they had turned a little to the 
right, they might have made another hill." Many a joke is told 
at the expense of the surveyor of the road. A foreigner who 
settled in the township said, " If I believed in the transmigration 
of souls, I should hope the soul of the surveyor of the Owego 
turnpike might be given to an old horse, and doomed to go 
before the stage between Montrose and Owego." 

In 1799, Jesse and Jabez A. Birchard came from Connecticut 
to what is now called Birchardville, on the Middle Branch of the 
Wyalusing, worked on land under a Connecticut title, and built 
themselves log houses. The locality is now within the present 
area of Forest Lake, though it belonged in Middletown, from the 
organization of that township. When the Birchards came, 
" Euby" was their recognized locality ; probably, they then knew 
nothing, and cared less, for the metes and bounds of Pennsyl- 
vania. Hon. Charles Miner, in 1799, mentions them as the first 
and only inhabitants of Euby. He was then in " Usher," (now 
Jessup); and in a letter to the pioneer festival, held at Montrose, 
June, 1858, he says : " I used to run over by the lot lines, to the 
settlement of my good friends, the Birchards, and spend a day 
of pleasure with them. It was at the deer lick at their door, 
that I shot my first buck." 
24 



370 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In March, 1800, Jabez A. brought his wife, the first woman in 
the place; and until May or June following, she did not see a 
woman, when two girls— Betsey Brownson and Betsey Hyde — 
walked through the woods from the Forks of the Wyalusing, to 
make her a visit, and stayed two nights; the distance, going 
and returning, being about fifteen miles. 

Mr. and Mrs. B. had six children : Mary M., wife of Lewis 
Chamberlin, formerly of Silver Lake, and Fanny H., wife of 
Amos Bixby, are dead ; Charles D., Backus, and George, now 
live in Iowa. Jabez A., Jr., also resided there from 1836 until 
his death, October 20, 1871, aged sixty-seven. He was a mem- 
ber of the first legislature of Iowa, and held many offices in 
Scott County. 

In 1846, the father also removed to Iowa, where he died, De- 
cember 18, 184.8, aged seventy-three. 

His farm in Forest Lake is now occupied by Edward Slawson. 

Jesse Birchard brought his family in the spring of 1801, to 
the farm vacated early in 1870 by his son, the late John S. B. 
They had but partly unloaded their goods, when upon leaving 
them to go to Jabez's to dinner, sparks from a fire which Mr. B. 
had kindled fell upon them, and communicated to the house, 
which, together with their goods, was totally consumed. An 
earthen platter, an heirloom in the family from the time it was 
brought from England in the "Mayflower," was broken to pieces 
in saving their effects. 

Mr. B. died May 20, 1840, in his seventieth year. 

In the fall of 1801, Israel Birchard (cousin of Jesse and Jabez) 
with wife and six children ; Jehiel Warner and wife ; Eli 
"Warner, and Joseph Butterfield, then a young man; came to- 
gether from Granby, Mass., and settled in the neighborhood. 
There was not a cabin between Mr. Warner and the New York 
State line. The late Wm. Gordon occupied the first location of 
Israel Birchard, who afterwards lived in Jessup, where he died 
December 11, 1818. 

The Birchards are descended from one of the old families of 
Hartford, Conn., whose English ancestor settled at Martha's Vine- 
yard, in Puritan times. The New York branch of the family 
spell their name Bi^rchard. 

Mrs. Jesse B. is said to have been a granddaughter of Winslow 
Tracy (born 1690), whose wife was a descendant of Wm. Brad- 
ford, second Governor of Plymouth Colony and one of the com- 
pany who made the first landing at Plymouth Rock. Mrs. B.'s 
Norman ancestry is traced back to A. D. 956 ; the settlement 
of the De Tracy family in England dates from King Stephen's 
time. This surname is taken, it is said, from the castle of Tracy, 
on the Orne. 

Jehiel Warner built a log-house in 1800, on the site of Sewell 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 371 

Warner's present residence, and returned to the East for his 
family. 

Jonathan "West and family came from Conn, the same year. 
Chester Wright is now on his farm, where the Milford and Owego 
turnpike crosses Pond Creek, or the outlet of Forest Lake. 
Here Mr. W. brought up a large family ; all now scattered. 
Two houses built by him are still standing near "the corners." 
He was an upright man, and " efficient in the promotion of good." 
He died May, 1832, aged seventy-one. One of his sons, Joshua, 
lived on the farm, at the head of the lake, and built the house 
which is still standing. 

In 1801, Benjamin Babcock came, and was the original settler 
of what has since been known as the Brock farm. In the sprint 
of 1832, while attending to his cattle, he was injured in the head 
by one of them, and died from the effects. He had been a Eevo- 
lutionary soldier, and was eighty-two years old. 

During this year the township of Rush was erected. It in- 
cluded all the present township of Forest Lake, until the erection 
of Bridgewater, 

In 1802, Samuel Newcomb settled at the outlet of Forest Lake, 
and for many years it was known as "Neweomb's Pond." He 
bought the house built by Eli Warner and added to it, making 
it a double log-house. This he sold in 1819 to Wm. Turner, 
an Englishman, and removed to " Fire Hill" (Jessup), where he 
lived twenty-five years or more, and then left the county to re- 
side in central New York. His wife was a daughter of Jonathan 
West. 

In 1803, Luther Kallam came from Stonington, Conn, (where 
he was born in 1760), and settled on Pond Creek, a little more 
than two miles south of the " Pond," where he resided until his 
death, June 5th, 1846, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He 
enlisted, when but sixteen years old in the Revolutionary army ; 
served, at different times, three years; and was in three engage- 
ments, one of which was at White Plains, N. Y. He is spoken 
of as a man of spotless integrity. He raised a large family, and 
his funeral was attended by about thirty of his grandchildren, 
and several great-grandchildren. Until recently one of his sons 
occupied his place, and it is still called the Kallam farm. 

In the winter of 1809-10, Ezekieland Elisha Griffis (brothers) 
moved into this section from the banks of the Wyalusing, where 
they had lived since 1799. 

Ezekiel built on the site of the present residence of his nephew, 
Abner Griffis. Only a part of his house remains, and that is 
used as an out-building. It was once occupied by Adam Waldie, 
who purchased the farm about 1820, when Ezekiel removed to 
Bradford County. 

Elisha built across the road from his brother, and resided there 



372 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

until 1832, when he moved into the house Mr. Waldie had left 
several years earlier. In 1837 he built the large house now 
occupied by his son Abner, and lived in it until a short time 
before his death, when he again crossed the road to his old home. 
Here he died, May 17, 1870, aged eighty-one years. He had 
seven sons: Abner, Calvin B., Milton, Austin B., Elisha, John, 
and Jefferson ; and one daughter, Mrs. E. B. Cobb of Rush. All 
but one of the family reside in the county. 

Mrs. G. was a daughter of John Blaisdell. She died in 1861. 

In his last years Mr. G\ related several incidents that occurred 
prior to his removal from the Wyalusing. He had cracked 
many bushels of corn in a mortar before a mill was started. He 
learned to write by lying before a fire of pine-knots, his face 
shaded by a board. As late as 1810 he was often in the woods 
a whole week without seeing a human face. While clearing his 
farm in Forest Lake he was seven years without a team ; it was 
cheaper to hire than keep one. The farm now supports the 
largest dairy in the county — about one hundred cows. 

Stephen and Thaddeus Griffis, former residents of the county, 
belonged to another branch of the family. 

In the spring of 1810 Loami Mott came from Stockbridge, 
Mass., to the place cleared by Joseph Butterfield, who then left 
for Bridgewater. Mr. B. had married ; and had two children 
while in Rush (now Forest Lake). Isaac and Simon E. Fessenden 
now occupy the farm. Loami Mott was a deacon in the Baptist 
church. He died in 1857, aged eighty-two years. His sons are 
Merrit, Willard, and Elijah. 

Samuel Clark, father-in-law of Loami M., came at the same 
time with the latter, and died twelve years later in the house 
built by Joseph Butterfield. His age was seventy-six. He had 
been an armorer in the Revolution. Orange Mott was a brother 
of Loami. He settled on the lower end of Stone Street, where 
Luke Jagger now lives. His sons are Orange, Rev. Wm. H. (of 
Hyde Park), Linus, Chester, and Amos. He died January 23, 
1871, aged ninety-eight years, three months, and six days. The 
compiler had the pleasure of seeing him the previous fall. He 
was the oldest man then living in the county. He had been a 
member of the Baptist church over fifty years. 

Leman Turrel was born in New Milford, Litchfield County, 
Conn., July 5, 1776 (the day after the declaration of Indepen- 
dence of the United States was signed in Congress). In 1793 
he first came to Pennsylvania, in company with his mother, to 
visit his sister (Mrs. Kingsley), who then lived at the mouth of 
the Wyalusing Creek. His mother rode on horseback, and he 
walked; the distance being about two hundred and fifty miles. 

In the spring of 179-i, at the age of eighteen, he again came 



HISTOET OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 373 

to survey land, under the Connecticut title, for his uncle, Job Tur- 
rell, and returned in the fall. 

In the summer of 1809 he came once more, and bought a tract 
of woodland upon the head waters of the middle branch of the 
Wyalusing Oreek (now Forest Lake, two miles east of Friends- 
ville, on the Milford and Owego turnpike road). Here he built a 
log-house in the wilderness, three miles from any other; and cut 
a road, at his own expense, the same distance, through the forest, 
to reach it. 

In April, 1810, he removed with his family, consisting of his 
wife Lucy and four children, to his new woodland home. By 
untiring industry and perseverance he cleared a large farm, built 
a commodious residence, and acquired a handsome competence. 

As occasion required he practised as a surveyor of land and 
roads; and when the Milford and Owego turnpike road was located 
through his land, he, with his two older sons, Stanley and Joel, 
built more than one mile of it themselves. 

He had seven children, all now living excepting the eldest. 
They were Brittania, Stanley, Joel, Leman Miner, Abel, Lucy 
Ann, and James. [Joel has since deceased.] 

As no district schools could be sustained during this early set- 
tlement Mr. T. taught his children himself in the evenings after 
the labors of the day were over, by which, with their own co-ope- 
ration and efforts, they obtained a better education than many 
persons do with all their present advantages. 

The original farm, to which have been made large additions, 
is now owned and occupied by the three older sons. 

Leman T. died December 28, 1848, in the seventy-third year 
of his age, and his wife died December, 1864, in her eighty-ninth 
year. 

Perry Ball came from Stockbridge, Mass., about 1810 or 1811, 
and settled on the farm where his grandson, E. Gr. Ball, now 
resides, half a mile east of where Loami Mott lived. 

Seth Taylor, a native of Litchfield County, Conn., located first, 
in 1810, on the farm next below Garrad Stone. He settled after- 
wards on the road leading from the middle branch to the Choco- 
nut, where he remained until 1861; when, in company with his 
son Edwin, he removed to California, and while there made his 
home with his son Job T. Taylor, Esq., one of the earliest set- 
tlers of Plumas County. There he died, June 26, 1869, aged 
nearly eighty-eight years. He was a justice of the peace for 
Forest Lake at the time of its erection. 

In 1810, Darius Bixby and Philo Morehouse, from Vermont, 
settled one mile east of what is now Friendsville. The former 
afterwards moved to the shore of the pond, in Middletown, which 
bears his name. 

Philo Bostwick came in about the same time, and, for nearly a 



374 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

quarter of a century, was a leading man in the community. The 
elections were held at his house, at the foot of the hill on Stone 
Street. He was a justice of the peace for Middletown ; his death 
occurring in 1834, two years before the erection of Forest Lake, 
and long before Stone Street became a part of it. He was 
killed, while chopping, by the fall of a tree; his age was fifty-one 
years. 

Garrad Stone and wife came from Litchfield County, Conn., in 
1810, and settled on the farm of three hundred acres, lately occu- 
pied by his younger brother Judson. It was then in Rush, but 
from 1813 in Middletown. He died September 21, 1855, at 
the age of sixty-seven. His first wife died November 6, 1848, 
aged sixty-two. Three married daughters survive. 

Judson Stone came August, 1813, the day after he was twenty- 
one years old, and bought two hundred and eighty acres of land 
in Middletown, and began to clear up. 

In the fall of 1814 he returned to Connecticut, and married, 
the following January, Polly Turrell. 

He set out with his young bride for Susquehanna County, 
making the journey with an ox team, the usual mode in those 
days of emigrating westward. They were sixteen days upon 
the road. He lived upon the place first selected as his home 
until the death of his wife, July 17, 1855, when he purchased his 
brother's farm adjoining, where he lived until his death. His wife 
had a cheerful temperament. A log-cabin in the wildnerness, 
with only a chest for a table, could not check her vivacity. Pri- 
vations gave but a keener zest to pleasures. 

Mr. Stone built the large house now occupied by his son-in- 
law, Geo. B. Johnson. 

From boyhood until his death he was by principle opposed 
to war. His convictions on this and other matters pertaining to 
Church and State were similar to the religious teachings and 
tenets of the Society of Friends, for whom he expressed the 
greatest consideration. 

He was strenuously opposed to the use of tobacco and intoxi- 
cating beverages. 

Between 1840 and 1845 he was largely interested in the tan- 
nery business. He subsequently formed a mercantile partnership 
in Friendsville with Amos Mott, and afterwards with Ahira 
Wickham, which continued for several years. In all these enter- 
prises he was successful. 

In 1855 he was married to Catharine Stone, widow and second 
wife of his brother Garrad, who now survives him. 

He died June 22, 1871, aged seventy-eight years and ten 
months. Six daughters survive, all the children of his first 
wife. 

The widow of Walker Stone (a brother of Garrad) came from 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 375 

Connecticut, in 1829, with five children, of whom Judson Stone, 
2d, is the only one now living in the county. 

Canfield S., another brother, came in 1821 to the farm just 
north of Judson's first location ; it was afterwards occupied by 
his son James, who died in 1860. 

The three farms constituted a tract given them by their father, 
Canfield, who purchased it prior to their arrival. He lived and 
died in Connecticut. One of Canfield's daughters is Mrs. Calvin 
Leet of Friendsville. 

The road from Bircbardville to Friendsville, from its occupa- 
tion by the three brothers, received the name of Stone Street. 
It is parallel with a creek which empties into the middle branch 
at the former place, and has been recently taken from Middle- 
town. The line now runs fifty rods west of the road, near the 
late residence of Mr. Stone, but is, perhaps, half a mile from it 
at the turn near Birchardville. 

Philip Blair was on the Middle Branch, below Birchardville, 
in 1813. 

A year or two later, Abiathar, William, and Samuel Thatcher 
were settled near Leman Turrell. 

In 1815, Stephen Bentley, originally from Rhode Island, came 
with his family, from Greene County, N. Y. He bought a farm 
on the Owego turnpike about five miles from Montrose, where 
he kept a public house a number of years. His children were 
Stephen, Marshall, Benjamin S., and George V. : and two daugh- 
ters. He died in 1831, and his wife seventeen years later, aged 
about seventy-five years. With the exception of the youngest 
son, none of their family remain in the county. 

In 1817, Wm. Gaylord Handrick settled near the east line of 
Middletown (as originally located); but, after a year or two, he 
built the large red house near the tannery on Stone Street. He 
was a tanner and shoemaker. He served as a justice of the peace 
for many years, and a term as county commissioner. His death 
occurred in 1866. He was thrice married and had thirteen 
children, all by his first wife, of whom six are living in the 
county ; William B., Wakeman C, Henry F., and David C. ; 
Mrs. I. P. Baker, and Mrs. William Miles of Dimock. 

In 1819, William Turner and wife arrived from England; 
having heard of Dr. Rose's lands being occupied by a British 
settlement. Mr. T. purchased the log-house and farm vacated 
by Samuel Newcomb, at the foot of " Newcomb's Pond." This 
was named by Mrs. T., " Forest Lake" — then a most appropriate 
name ; as, in the immediate vicinity of the lake there was but 
one clearing, and it was all forest to St. Joseph's. 

Under the transforming hand of taste, the log-cabin became 
a charming home. The rustic gate of laurel boughs, and the 
trellised porch, lent an outward grace to the rude fence and 



376 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

rough walls; while the spirit and intelligence of the occupants 
made the spot "the retreat of the social, the gay, and refined." 
The place still bears marks of the care she bestowed upon it. 
What the locality was on the arrival of Mrs. T. can be best 
understood from a letter written by herself. It was published in 
the 'New York American' and ' Phila. Union/ and copied into 
the ' Susquehanna County Herald,' edited by Adam Waldie. 

Extracts of a letter from an English lady to her friend in New York. 

" County of Susquehanna, Sept. 3, 1821. 

"To Mrs. : — The kind interest you expressed for us on our arrival at 

New York as strangers, and the generous solicitude you evinced lest our 
trial of farming in this country should end in disappointment, induces me 
now, after a period of nearly two years, to give you the following brief state- 
ment; and your kind heart shall judge of our present prospects. On our 
arrival at Montrose, we were directed to Silver Lake ; where we were re- 
ceived with a courtesy which, I confess, I had not expected to meet with in 
the backwoods ; for we had been told they were only inhabited by wolves, 
and bears of two kinds, biped and quadruped. It was therefore no small sat- 
isfaction to us (after a journey of one hundred and fifty miles from New 
York), through forests whose gloom and vastness are appalling to an Euro- 
pean's eye, accustomed to the groves and rosegirt meadows of England, to find 
that we had escaped being devoured by the wild beasts of the wilderness ; 
and instead of meeting with a complete land-jobber, ready to take every ad- 
vantage of foreigners, we had to deal with a gentleman, whose manners bore 
a pleasing promise of what we have since proved — a liberal and unbiased 
conduct. After viewing several farms we fixed upon the one we have now 
purchased, consisting of 294 acres, with a lake in which is plenty of fish. 
The person from whom we purchased the improvement, had held the farm 
seventeen years, and had built on it a double log-house and a good barn ; 
himself and family were living here till the day we entered. Accustomed, as 
we had been, to a home possessing all the comforts, and some of the elegancies 
of life, our rustic log-hut, surrounded by black-looking stumps, which seemed 
to stand like memento moris, gave a cheerless and disheartening aspect to 
our Susquehanna home; but a very few days of active industry turned our 
log-house into a clean cottage. A little white-wash and paint have a talis- 
manic effect on dirty walls; a comfortable carpet hides a rough floor; and 
the good polish of housewifery will soon make dull things bright. Out-door 
improvements require more time and labor ; and, where neglect has suffered 
the bramble to overrun the land, the English settler has much to do ere he 
can bring his farm to look tolerable to his eye. But a good flock of sheep 
are better exterminators than the scythe or reaping-hook ; they are fond of 
the young shoots, and these being frequently bitten down, the root is soon 

destroyed We have now a pretty flower-garden in which my 

favorite roses grow luxuriantly, with lilacs, rhododendrons, etc., with many 
annuals and perennials, some of which are from dear old England. Our 
porch is covered with the calabash, the morning-glory, and scarlet run- 
ners, which the humming-birds delight in, and perch on their blossoms as 
tame as our pet robins. I love to see the native plants mingling their beau- 
tiful dyes with my own country's flowers. It seems like what our nations 

should be, -amted, blending their glories without rivalry We 

are delighted with the excellence of the water. We have a spring that has 
not failed us one day, winter or summer. Your kind apprehensions for our 
health have proved fruitless ; not one of us has had a cold even— which, I 
confess, surprises me, as our winters are more severe than those of England ; 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 377 

but the air is salubrious, and we have enjoyed excellent health through all 
the seasons. It is a great pleasure to us to read how the world goes, and we 
get 'The Observer' regularly once a month, so that we have all the news 
about a month after it is published in London — an advantage few emigrants 
can boast, I believe, four thousand miles from home. You know I laugh- 
ingly told you we should rival your concerts in New York ; we sing Mozart's 
beautiful operas in our forest; and last winter we had some quadrilles very 
gracefully danced in our parlor— the first that ever were danced in a log- 
house perhaps. . In short, come and witness my content and happiness in my 
new home ; my harp sounds as sweetly in our log house as it did in a loftier 
dome. I believe it is the first that has breathed its tones in Susquehanna. 

"Yours, etc." 

The publication of the foregoing in Mr. Waldie's paper, called 
out the following, addressed to him by a gentleman who signed 
himself "Bridgewater." (This part of Forest Lake was then 
Bridgewater. The "Eudoxia" referred to was Miss Waldie; 
and " Musidora" was Miss Maria Bentley, afterwards, Mrs. 
Foster). 

"A letter in one of your late numbers, for its purity of language and har- 
mony of style, is not exceeded by anything I have read Eudoxia 

has likewise favored us with a specimen of her talents, and I hope she will 
not be offended at my reminding her, that her masculine understanding, and 
correct style, are highly appreciated by all who have the honor to know her. 
. . . . Musidora too — the timid, the retiring Musidora, need not fear to 
write — her uncommon understanding, refined taste, and richly stored mind, 
need only to be known to be admired and respected I beg there- 
fore, sir, that you will use your influence, to prevail on this accomplished 
and fascinating trio, to comply with our respectful request, that they will 
condescend to employ a few of their leisure moments to amuse, delight, and 
instruct us, with their pens." 

In 1822 Mrs. Turner issued a volume of her poems entitled 
the ' Harp of the Beech-woods.' 

Five years later her harp was mute in forest halls ; her husband 
finding himself unequal to the task of subduing the wilderness, 
and making a living, abandoned his enterprise in Susquehanna 
County, and went to New York city, where Mrs. T. engaged in 
teaching music. 

Later she wrote from Manchester, England, respecting their 
residence in Forest Lake. 

" I believe the locality was all the insurmountable difficulty. Had we fixed 
near a navigable river, or within easy distance of a good market, the capital 
we sank in the purchase of Forest Lake, would, in its interest, have rented 
a small and profitable farm." 

In 1833 she wrote — 

"I am pleased to hear such good accounts of Forest Lake [there was then 
no township of this name, and she intended only to designate the vicinity of 
the lake] , and that it is not abandoned to the raccoons, the squirrels, the 
deer, and the wolves, but sociably inhabited, and elegantly improved by the 
good taste of Mr. and Mrs. Brown." 

In 1819 John B. Brown, also an Englishman, located near the 
lake. He was an intellectual acquisition to the neighborhood, 



378 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

but he remained only a few years. The house he occupied has 
since been burned. It stood just north of the present residence 
of Chauncey Wright. It was built by William Wynn, who 
soon left it to reside in Montrose. On Mr. Brown's return to 
England he traveled northward; and contributed to the 'Register,' 
published at Montrose, a series of articles entitled ' Things in 
Scotland.' 

Not far from this time Frederick Brock, a German, located at 
"Brockville," five miles from Montrose, on the farm cleared by 
Benjamin Babcock. Mrs. B. was from Philadelphia, and in that 
city their son Frederick died April, 1841, in his thirty-third 
year. He was known in this vicinity as a young man of excel- 
lent talents and acquirements. He left a widow (who died a year 
later) and two children, since dead. Fred. Brock, Sen., died 
November 5, 1843, and his widow has since deceased. 

Michael Flynn, one of the first Irishmen in Forest Lake, occu- 
pies the Brock farm. 

Adam Waldie came with his wife and sisters, from Scotland, 
to the present town of Dimock in 1819 ; two years later he 
removed to the farm formerly occupied by Bzekiel Griffis, for 
which he paid $2100. He grew weary of his situation ; and as 
this was but part payment the land reverted to Dr. Rose. 

In December, 1822, he went to Philadelphia, and published 
' Waldie's Circulating Library,' a valuable literary paper. 

"Mr. Waldie was highly esteemed, not only for his literary 
attainments, but for his amiable manners and gentlemanly bear- 
ing." The publication of the 'Messenger' and the 'Herald,' de- 
voted to the dissemination of useful intelligence, and neutral in 
politics as they were, at a time of very great political excitement 
(over two years from June, 1820), could not have had other than 
a salutary influence. 

The condition of things here, as described by Mr. Waldie a 
short time before he left, show that it was owing to no defect in 
our soil that he was induced to leave. He says in the Susque- 
hanna County ' Herald,' June 29, 1822 :— 

" A very few years since, this country was the sole possession of Indians 
and wild animals. The earliest settlers, trudging along for the distance of 
twenty or thirty miles to mill with a bushel of grain on their backs, were con- 
sidered fair game for the ridicule of the inhabitants of the surrounding 
country. They considered those people insane who could ever think of set- 
tling among these hills. Mark the consequence. This season there have 
been teams from the neighboring counties to purchase grain in Montrose, 
and were supplied. We do not mention this boastingly. We feel grateful 
that we have a supply for those in want, and mention it simply to show how 
rapidly a change has been effected in this county, as well as in other parts 
of the Union. Though the settlement here does not show such a rapid, 
mushroom growth, as many places have exhibited, we hope that it will show 
a stamina equal to any." 

C. F. A. Volz, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, built the 



HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 379 

house on the top of the hill, east of the lake, about 1824. He 
made application to the court, September, 1823, for naturaliza- 
tion, which was not granted in full until May, 1828. He is 
spoken of as a highly accomplished gentleman. His farming 
was like that of many amateurs — better in theory than in prac- 
tice. The raising of sheep received considerable attention from 
him, and with some success. He named his place " Hope." It 
was near the sixth mile-stone on the Milford and Owego turn- 
pike. The house is described as " rambling and disjointed," and 
is still odd enough, after some alterations have been made for 
the sake of convenience. Mr. V. was sometimes styled " Baron," 
but this may have been only a matter of compliment. He was 
a single man, and his domestic affairs were managed by Tom 
Brown and wife. His death occurred in 1839. 

The farm was secured before his death to B. T. Case, Esq., 
and is now in the hands of his heirs. 

John S. Towne, a blacksmith, was here as early as 1824. His 
house is the present place for holding elections. He married a 
daughter of Jehiel Warner. 

The forests of the township, besides beech, include hemlock, 
maple, birch, and ash ; not much pine is found. The soil is con- 
sidered rather better than that of Silver Lake. 

No flax was raised for some time before the war, but consider- 
able attention has since been given to its culture. Little wheat 
is grown, but excellent crops of corn, buckwheat, oats, rye, and 
potatoes are raised. The country in this section was quite 
thickly settled as early as 1830. Those persons who located 
themselves early in that part of Middletown since set off to 
Forest Lake, were, in many instances, never residents of the lat- 
ter; their death or removal occurring previous to its erection 
into a township — and their names and efforts are all associated 
with the former. 

The Birchardville post-office, established in 1826 in Middle- 
town, is retained in Forest Lake. 

In 1831, the second post-office within the limits of Forest Lake 
was established under the name of " West Bridgewater," Zura S. 
Doty, postmaster. Its name was afterwards changed to Forest 
Lake post-office, and Elisha Griffis was appointed postmaster. 
The office has since been changed to Seth Wright. Within 
fifteen years Chase post-office was established in the western part 
of the township (as it was then); but the name and office are 
now discontinued, and that of Forest Lake Center takes its 
place. 

About 1830, Eobert W. Huddlestone built a grist-mill at the 
outlet of the lake. Every stick of timber used was cut and 
drawn by Alexander Smith, now of Montrose. 

The first pickerel ever put in Forest Lake were obtained by 



380 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Messrs. Volz and Brock, from Lathrop's Lakes (Elk Lake) ; and 
for five years no fishing was allowed there. The pickerel have 
always been abundant since that time. Mr. Smith himself " cut a 
hole in the ice and dumped the strangers in" — half a barrelful. 
Some years later when three lads were out in a frail canoe fish- 
ing, one Josephus Kenyon, aged fifteen years, was drowned. 

Huddlestone's mill was rebuilt, in 1845, by Chauncey Wright, 
Esq., who came to Forest Lake, from Choconut, three years pre- 
vious, and established the clothing works where the factory now 
stands, and where the business has been continued ever since by 
his son, Chester Wright ; who added, in 1847, a carding-machine. 
The woolen factory was built twenty years later by Wright 
Brothers & Southwell. 

As early as 1815 a grist-mill and distillery, erected by Jabez 
A. Birchard, were in active operation ; as also a wool-carding 
establishment and saw-mill, by Loami Mott, in the Middletown 
portion of the township. A few years later Wm. Gr. Handrick 
started a tannery on Stone Street, now owned by Mr. Guylfoyle. 
There are now five or six saw-mills in the township. 

At the time of the " morus multicaulis" fever, in 1839, Horace 
Birchard, a resident of Forest Lake, manufactured a superior 
quality of silk ; he had several species of the mulberry. 

The school-houses of the township are all new. 

The library formed forty years ago at Jehiel Warner's (then 
Middletown) is now kept at the same place, in Forest Lake, by 
his grandson, Sewell Warner. An annual contribution from<each 
member enables the association to make occasional purchases of 
new books. The whole number of volumes is between three 
and four hundred. 

Joseph Backus, of Bridgewater, now over eighty years of age, 
taught a common school thirty winters in different localities, 
closing his services thirty years ago in what is known as the 
Griffis District in Forest Lake. Recently he visited that dis- 
trict, and says : — 

"Now, after so long an absence, what do I find on my return? Not a 
single family remaining that was there at that time ; some removed, others 
snatched away by death's relentless hand ; their places being occupied by 
strangers, and by those who were my former pupils; and the son of one of 
those I found to be the teacher of the school." 

The Baptist church of Eush, since Middletown, and now Forest 
Lake, was the first church organized within this section. It was 
the result of the labors of Elder Davis Dimock, who had fre- 
quently threaded the forests to gather up the scattered members 
of Christ's fold, holding meetings in the " Washington school- 
house," 1 and in another near Jesse Birchard's. From the narra- 

1 This school-house was in the northwest corner of Jessup. It has been gone 
mauy years. 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 381 

tive of the great revival in Bridgevvater in 1810, given by Elder 
Dimock some years later, we learn that "people came from a 
great distance, and he was invited to preach in other towns, and 
some in each place believed and were baptized." All joined the 
Bridgewater church, as there was no other in this region of the 
country. 

In 1811 those who lived in Rush (then eighteen miles north 
and south by eight miles east and west) agreed to meet on the 
Lord's Day for prayer and reading of the word of God ; and 
also to invite their neighbors. Elder Dimock sometimes visited 
them, and February 29,1812, they were constituted a church 
with twelve members, not one of whom is now living. The last 
one of the twelve, Mrs. Naomi Birchard, died in 1870, aged 
seventy-two. But their descendants and others, to the number 
of eighty, maintain the organization then effected, and worship 
in a neat church-edifice erected at Birchardville. After Elder 
Dimock, Elders Parker, Brand, Frink, H. H. Gray, and Tilden 
have occupied its pulpit. 

The Baptist church of Forest Lake was organized in 1812 
with sixteen members. A house in the vicinity of the lake was 
purchased and fitted up for a meeting-house ; though refitting is 
necessary to make it comfortable. 

The first Presbyterian church of Rush, now Forest Lake, was 
organized December, 1811, at the house* of Jehiel Warner. Its 
constituent members were Jesse and Israel Birchard, Jonathan 
West, Zenas Bliss, Harriet and Lydia Birchard, Polly Bliss, 
Maria Fishback, Phinis Y/arner, Anna and Laura Stone, and 
Minerva Taylor. 

The first ministers whose services were occasionally enjoyed 
here were Revs. Joseph Wood, 0. Hill, E. Kingsbury, and Solo- 
mon King. 

In 1822, if not earlier, preaching and church-meetings were 
held at the house of Jesse Birchard; in 1827 at the school-house 
near J. A. Birchard's. The records of the church were kept just 
twenty-six years, during which twenty-three members only were 
added, and the same number taken from it by death or other- 
wise, and after 1837 neighboring churches absorbed the rem- 
nant. 

The Methodist church at Forest Lake Center was built in 1847. 
It was repaired and rededicated in 1871. 

There are five cemeteries — the oldest at Birchardville, donated 
by Jesse Birchard; one near J. Stone's; one on the farm of L. 
M. Turrell, land donated to the public by his father; one near 
the lake, and another near S. D. Cornell's. 

Jabez A. Birchard's oldest child, Mary, was born in 1801 — the 
first birth in the township. Hubbard Warner was the next, and 



3S2 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

there was not a death in the neighborhood " until those children 
were old enough to sit up with the corpse." This death was 
that of Miss Betsey Rice, who died at Loarai Mott's, and was the 
first person buried near the Baptist church at Birchardville. 
Now thirty of the name of Birchard are buried there. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CLIFFORD. 

In April, 1805, Asahel Gregory, and other residents of Nichol- 
son (which then covered territory now including eight townships 
of Susquehanna County), petitioned the court at Wilkes-Barre 
for a division of the township. At April sessions, 1806, the 
report of viewers was finally confirmed, and Clifford was erected 
with boundaries ''beginning at the northeast corner of Nicholson, 
on the Wayne County line" (or where Long Lake nearly touches 
it in Ararat), " and running nine miles due west, thence due south. 
to south line of said township," thirteen miles, to a point now 
included in Luzerne County. Upon the organization of Susque- 
hanna Count}', in 1810, the size of Clifford was nine miles east 
and west by twelve miles north and south. 

In November, 1813, by the erection of Gibson, it parted with 
a little more than half its area; and in May, 1825, by the erec- 
tion of Herrick, with a strip of five or six square miles on its 
northern border. Thus it lost Uniondale and lands westward to 
nearly the foot of the western slope of Elk Mountain. But there 
is still left to Clifford the principal outlook from the mountain — ■ 
the Rock. 

From this point a prospect is obtained unparalleled in extent, 
if not in beauty, to that obtained from any point in Susquehanna 
County, and probably in eastern Pennsylvania. 

Some persons claim that the mountain is " the highest point of 
land between the lakes and the ocean." However this may be, 
it is certain that few mountains in our State are more than two 
or three hundred feet higher; if it is correct, as given in ' Bur- 
ro wes' State Book,' that the highest is but twenty-five hundred 
feet above the Atlantic, for, by the survey of the table-land in 
Ararat township, the railroad summit is 2040 feet above tide- 
water, and, from the northeast side of Prospect Rock, one looks 
down upon that eminence. Some assert that the north peak 
hides the view of " the summit" from the rock, but it was pointed 
out to the writer during her recent visit there. 

On a bright November day the five lakes in the immediate 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 383 

vicinity glistened in the sunlight; though they were not then 
"gems set in emerald wreaths," for the hills were brown and the 
forests faded to somberness. Yet, the scene was full of grandeur, 
impressing one principally with its vastness. "The sea! the 
sea !" was the idea presented by the view along the wide horizon, 
for the hills were as billows on billows ; white sails were imaged 
in painted houses far away, and, in some places these crested 
the hills as foam crests the ocean. 

Except on the north the view is uninterrupted to an extent 
which, included all that has been described by others as distin- 
guishable from the summit of the north peak, which is said to 
be the higher, and from this point the landscape is pronounced 

" One of surpassing loveliness and grandeur. Overlooking the Lackawanna 
and Moosic, which are in its immediate vicinity, the view is terminated, 
southwardly, by the Blue (or Kittatinny) Mountains, in which the Wind 
Gap and Delaware Water Gap are both distinctly visible. Eastwardly can 
be distinguished the extension of the Blue Ridge into New Jersey and New 
York, stretching upward along the Delaware, and still beyond, the Shawney 
Creek range, until it is lost in the greater elevation and bolder outline of the 
far-famed Catskill. On the north and west, the eye takes in the whole of that 
immense tract comprehended in the bold sweep in the Susquehanna River. 
It enters Pennsylvania at the northeast extremity; and then, as if deterred 
by a succession of mountain fastnesses through which it must break, or re- 
pentant at leaving its parent State, it turns again across the line, and does 
not re-enter Pennsylvania for many miles. Here is presented a combined 
view of all the beauties of mountain and rural scenery. Bold bluffs indent 
the.extreme distance, along the wide and graceful sweep of the river ; on the 
intervening hillsides, which rise apparently one above another, like an am- 
phitheatre, until the horizon is reached, numerous tracts of cultivated ground 
appear, as if cleft out of the deeper green of the forests ; while, here and 
there, gleaming in the sunlight, many a crystal lake is seen, adding life and 
brilliancy to the picture." 

Another writer says : — 

" Necessarily, a clear day, good eyes, and a spy-glass of some power, are 
needed to enjoy all that may be seen from any of these sublime altitudes. 
From all points but the southeast, the elevations seem to be covered with 
the native forests. Approaching it from Dundalf or Clifford, however, it is 
cultivated to its summit. We left the horses at a point where Mr. Finn 1 has 
erected a three-story house for the entertainment of travellers and sight 
seers. A path through small trees and brush, brings you to a perpendicular 
ledge of rocks, skirting which on the east you find some stone steps, 2 upon 
which you ascend to Pulpit or Table Rock— -quite a level plat of sodded sur 
face, just in the edge of Clifford township." 

This ledge is so large, however, that from " Kentuck," in 
Gibson, its outline can be distinctly traced. It is another " Look- 
out Mountain," without its bloody associations. To the south- 
east can be traced, by the steam of their locomotives, the line of 

1 Mr. Clark Finn owns the land including the rock, but the western slope 
belongs to David Thomas. 

2 For these accommodating steps the public are indebted to Mr. Charles 
Wells, of Clifford. 



384 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale; to the west, that of 
the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western; and, near at hand, 
that of the Jefferson Railroad. 

The steam from the stationary engine of the first named, six- 
teen miles distant, rises in a straight column — a prominent object 
in that direction. Twenty-five miles northwest from the Rock, 
a cleared field above the Fair Ground at Montrose, is seen ; and, 
on and beyond this, lie against the sky the blue hills bordering 
the Susquehanna River in Bradford County. Withdrawing the 
eye from remote objects, the whole of Clifford lies before it like 
a map. At the left gleams Cotteral Pond, from near which one 
traces the East Br. of the Tunkhannock, until it is hidden at " the 
City ;" but it appears again on Decker Flat, and below. Directly 
south, four or five miles away, far above the Tunkhannock, rests 
Crystal Lake, flooded with light, and near it Newton's Pond, 
both being just beyond Dundaff, whose spires and public houses 
can be readily distinguished. Above Clifford Corners, Alder 
Marsh lies low near the Cemetery, whose white stones, like those 
on the hill beyond " the City," are plainly seen. The latter 
glimmer between the dark evergreens that ornament the ground 
sacred to the dead. Near by is the Baptist church. Another 
can be seen on the left, and the Welsh church on the right. 
Round Hill 1 is the southwestern spur of Elk Mountain. Seen 
from any point, it appears symmetrically round, and wooded 
enough to give it beauty. Apparently just back of it, but really 
some miles away, towers Thorn Hill, which figures in the early 
history of the township. In all directions stretch roads which 
cross each other, and pleasant farms lie between. At the right, 
the sheen of Long Pond beyond the "Collar road," 2 and even 
that of Mud Pond, seems almost just beneath one's feet. The 
Milford and Owego turnpike can be traced from Dundaff over 
the tops of the hills, and away into Lenox (near the Baptist 
church), and into Harford and Brooklyn. Kentuck and Ken- 
nedy Hills rise at the right, in Gibson. Looking again to the 
left, Millstone Hill rises this side (west) of the Lackawanna, in 
Clifford, and as its name imports, furnishes a valuable stone for 
milling purposes. It hides a view of "Stillwater." The spire of 
Uniondale church, in Herrick, seems very near, though really 
five miles off; and farm-houses equally distant, appear, in the 
clear atmosphere, also but little removed. 

It is difficult to prevent the eye from straying to distant ob- 
jects, so wide is the range of vision, and so impressive the scene. 

Most reluctantly, and after hours of pure enjoyment, do we 

1 Once owned by Walter Forrester, a Scotchman ; at present, by Wm. T. 
Davies. 

2 John Collar and family lived in the vicinity. It connects the M. & 0. and 
Newbargh turnpikes. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 385 

turn from the Rock, lingering the while, and even returning in 
the wrench of parting from a view such as we may never behold 
again. 

At the foot of the stone steps, a short and steep declivity, at a 
right angle with our path, brings us to a spring of delicious 
water, whose flow is constant and ever the same ; no less during 
the severest drouths, nor greater after driving storms or melting 
snows. Refreshed by a draught, we retrace our steps with some 
difficulty to the path, and resume the descent, finding our impro- 
vised staves of almost equal service as in the ascent. The tim- 
ber of the mountain is principally oak, chestnut, hickory, and 
birch, with some beech. 

The geography of no other township of Susquehanna County 
can be studied at one view, though much of Gibson, and the 
more prominent features of a dozen townships may be seen from 
the old Harmony road in Ararat, and from the summit east of it. 

Bits of landscape of surpassing beauty often greet the vision, 
especially in the vicinity of the Susquehanna River and smaller 
streams ; but the bird's-eye view of Clifford outvies them all. 

Still, it appears this section was not settled as early, by several 
years, as the less inviting parts of the county. A few hardy 
pioneers found their way hither, and it was long known as the 
"Eikwoods Settlement" — the township as well as the mountain 
being the home of the elk in great numbers. 

The forests of Clifford appear to have been broken in three 
places at nearly the same time. 

From what can now be learned, it is probable the first stroke 
of the settler's ax resounded here, in 1799, on the east branch of 
the Tunkhannock, about a mile below the deep valley, now 
styled the "City," 1 and was wielded by Amos Morse or his son, 
William A., on the farm now occupied by Ezra S. Lewis. They 
left in 1818. Miss Sally Morse was the first teacher in Clifford. 

Benjamin Bucklin began clearing on the site of Dundaff pro- 
bably in 1799, but did not locate there until three or four years 
later. 

In the spring of 1800 Adam Miller and family settled on the 
flat, within fifty rods of what is now known as Clifford Corners. 

He had been, in 1787, one of the first company of settlers on 
the Hopbottom, and possibly of the first in Susquehanna County. 
He emigrated to Ohio, in 1799, with his wife and four children. 
All were on horseback — four horses transporting the family and 

1 A newspaper correspondent says : " On inquiry as to the origin of so large a 
name for so diminutive and yet pleasant a place, it was stated, as tradition, 
that it arose from a preacher, passing through, discoursing from the text, 'Up, 
get ye out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.' " It is also known 
as McAlla's Mills, from the business conducted here for many years succeeding 
1831, by John McAlla. 
25 



386 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

baggage — two of the children being carried in baskets placed 
over one of the horses. These children were the late Elder 
Charles Miller and Mrs. John Wells, of Clifford, from whose lips 
the narrative is given. The baskets were made in the shape of 
cradles, so the children could sit or lie down, as suited them. A 
journey of six weeks through a wilderness, such as the country 
exhibited in 1799, was far from agreeable to any of the party. 
Before they reached their destination Mrs. M. fell and broke her 
collar-bone, and they were detained three weeks at the wigwam 
of a hospitable Indian family. When they gained the promised 
land, Mr. M. could not suit himself in regard to location, and 
after a few days he broached the subject of a return to Pennsyl- 
vania. His wife, who had secretly longed for this, was soon 
ready to resume journeying, and the same season found them in 
the vicinity of Tunkhannock, and in the following spring they 
followed up the east branch of the creek to the flat at Clifford 
Corners. Here they lived twelve years, when they removed to 
Thorn Hill, where Elder William Miller, their grandson, now 
resides. While clearing at the latter place, Mr. M. had the use of 
the flat two years. 

He belonged to the free-communion Baptist church, which was 
organized by Epaphras Thompson about 1802, but, in 1804, he 
left it to unite with the strict Baptists of the Abington Associa- 
tion. 

Mrs. M. died at Thorn Hill, March, 1816, aged sixty-one years ; 
her husband died April, 1831, aged about sixty-six years. 

Amos Harding, in the summer of 1800, built, within sight oi 
Adam Miller, on the same flat. His sons were Tryon and Zal- 
mon. One daughter became the wife of James Stearns ; another, 
the wife of Joseph Baker. He r with all his family, went to Ohio 
about fifty years ago. 

David Burns came from Otsego County, N. Y., about 1800, 
and settled about two miles ea&t of where Dundaff" now stands, 
on the road leading to Belmont. He was a little west of a small 
stream, now known as Tinker Brook, and his farm on the large 
county map is marked by H. Hasbrook's name. 

Opposite where the name of J. Westgate stands, Mr. Burns lost 
his only son about five or six years after he came into the wilder- 
ness, an account of which was written by Mrs. Thos. Burdick 
(one of his daughters), and published, August 1869, in the Mont- 
rose ' Republican ;' she was the youngest of four girls, when her 
parents came in. She says : — 

" I was not old enough to remember anything about coming here. The 
first of my recollection, we lived in a little log-cabin, hemlock bark for the 
roof, and the floor basswood logs. Our neighbors (who were very few) built 
in about the same style, for we were all poor. There were no saw-mills, so 
we could not get boards to build with. When we had been here about two 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 387 

years we had a little brother (Eber). He was the idol of my parents, being 
the only son. About this time father went back to New York State, and 
got some sheep and a pair of oxen. Before he got his team he would take 
a grist on his back and carry it to Mt. Pleasant, a distance of about seven 
miles, that being the nearest grist-mill. The woods were our pasture. We 
found the cattle by the tinkle of the bell. Wild beasts were very plenty ; 
and oh ! the fear I have undergone while looking for the cattle and going to 
the neighbors. The wolves would come near our cabin and make the night 
hideous with howling. On one occasion one of father's oxen was missing. 
Three weeks after, father was hunting and found the head of the missing 
ox, and presently heard his cattle not far off. He went to them. A large 
wolLhad the remaining ox by the flank, and the other cattle were running 
around them bellowing. He tried to shoot and not hit the cattle. In the 
excitement his gun went off" by a branch catching in the lock, and the wolf 
ran away. These were hard times, but my parents did not get discouraged ; 
they kept on toiling, clearing land, and raising grain. Mother spun flax and 
wool to make our clothes, until we had plenty, and to spare. We had fish, 
deer, and bear-meat. Our pigs lived on the nuts of the forest. Then father 
built a new log-house. I will not give a description of -it. It was a palace 
compared to our little cabin. I was then six years of age, and my brother 
was in his fourth year. We had lived in our new house but a short time 
when our enjoyment was turned to sorrow. One pleasant morning in Octo- 
ber, father said to Eber, ' Do you want to go with me ?' He was much 
pleased, and started off in high glee, forgetting his hat and shoes. My sis- 
ters and myself went with them to a chestnut grove, but the burrs pricked 
my brother's bare-feet, so he wanted to go home. One of my sisters went 
with him to where the road was plain, and then returned. It will be remem- 
bered that the roads at that time were mere paths ; we followed by marked 
trees. We did not get home until near night ; the sun was about one hour 
high. Oh ! what horror and confusion. My brother had not been home. 
He was lost. Have the wild beasts killed him ? were our first thoughts. He 
had been gone all day. What could we do ? My father ran as fast as he 
could to the woods. I can see him, in imagination as plain as I then did, 
and I shall never forget that day until I forget all. My sisters went to a few 
of our neighbors for them to come and help look for him. They fired guns 
and blew horns all night to frighten, if possible, the beasts. But to add to 
our grief, in the night came on a terrible thunder-storm. The streams rose 
very high. Before morning the weather changed from warm to very cold. 
The men who had been out all night were so chilled they could scarcely 
speak, their clothes being wet. They thought my little brother could 
scarcely live through such a night — he being thinly clad— even if the wild 
beasts had not devoured him. In the morning the storm had past, and one 
of our neighbors went to Mt. Pleasant and Great Bend, and called on all 
the people on his way to turn out and look for a lost child. Men came from 
all parts as far as the news reached, and searched four days, and then gave 
up looking. Oh ! what grief my parents endured. My father sought far and 
long, but all to no purpose. No trace of him could be found. Two years 
from this event my mother died. Father married again, and lived here until 
I was eighteen years of age ; then he moved to the State of Ohio, from thence 
to Indiana, where he died of old age. I am the only one of the family living 
in this section of the country. I have lived near seventy years within, one 
mile of where my father first built his log-cabin." 

Jonathan Burns, known as Captain Barns, an elder brother of 
David, was located at first near the site of Dundaff ; but in. 1802 
he removed to the east branch of the Tunkhannock, near the 
mouth of the creek that bears his name. From him sprung the 



388 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

present Burns family, David having left no sons. His sons were 
Henry, Orrey, Alexander, Ziba, Jonathan, Thomas, and Ellery. 
Alexander was a justice of the peace, and died in the township. 
He is said to have been a man of fine manners and considerable 
culture for the times. Orrey died in Burlington, Bradford 
County ; the rest are living. The father of Jonathan and David 
Burns came from the north of Ireland, and was Scotch-Irish. 

" Captain Burns was a strong, athletic man. He was fond of all active 
sports, and hunted a great deal for profit as well as pleasure. It was easier 
to lay in a store of bear-meat or venison than to procure and fatten hogs. 

"At one time, late in the fall of the year, he went out hunting on the 
Lackawanna mountains, south of where Carbondale now stands. While 
busily engaged in securing game to supply the family larder, the Lacka- 
wanna had become so swollen with rain as to be impassable. The weather 
had changed from the mildness of ' Indian summer' to piercing cold. His 
tow-frock was almost literally frozen to his body. His companion had be- 
come so discouraged that he sat down and declared he could go no further. 
Burns cut a whip and applied it with such vigor to his back, that he was 
stimulated to renewed exertions. 

"They built a fire on the bank of the river, and the next morning the water 
had so far subsided that they felled trees across the river and went over 
safely. Burns then carried eighty pounds of bear-meat and a rifle weighing 
twenty pounds a distance of twelve miles without laying them off his 
shoulder. 

"At another time he carried two bushels of wheat to the mill at Belmont, 
a distance of ten miles, and the flour, in returning, and stopped but once each 
way to rest." 

James Norton, the father-in-law of David Burns, came from Sara- 
toga, N. Y., about 1802. He was then an old man, and accompanied 
his sons Keuben and Samuel. They settled near Mr. Burns' on 
what is called the Burch road. Another son, Ishi, settled where 
the Crystal Lake hotel now stands. . 

Reuben was near the present Burch school-house ; Samuel a 
little west of him. 

About the same time that James Norton and family came, a 
widow Norton also came to the township, with three daughters 
and six sons. The latter were Abner, Daniel, Asahel, Luther, 
Lemuel, and Silas. Daniel and Asahel had families when they 
came. 

Asahel was the first settler at the " City ;" Luther was about 
half-way between this place and Dundafr^ at the foot of Arnot 
Hill ; Abner, Daniel, and Lemuel settled on a road northwest 
from the Burch road, near where Tinker Brook crosses it. One 
of the daughters was married to William Upton, who afterwards 
settled here. Silas was on " the Lyon road," or the road leading 
to Herrick. 

The Nortons are now all dead, or have left this section, with 
the exception of Mrs. Horace Dart, a daughter of Abner. He 
had the first grindstone in the township. Previously they had 
to go from six to nine miles to get their axes sharpened. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 389 

William Finn, the youngest of five brothers who eventually 
came to Clifford, was the son of James, a Baptist preacher, who 
was in the Wyoming valley in 1778, and one of the party who 
were left to defend the women and children gathered together in 
the block-house or fort at the time of the massacre. He was 
forced to retire to Orange County, N. Y., whence he had emi- 
grated ; but in a few years he returned to Wyoming, and sub- 
sequently moved to Tunkhannock where he died. His widow 
came with William Finn soon after, or in 1802, to the present 
township of Clifford, and afterwards married Daniel Gore. 
William F. cleared and cultivated a large farm lying one mile 
west of Dundaff, where he reared his family of eight children. 
He built three dwelling-houses, one of stone, which was then 
considered a fine affair. His first framed-house was the second 
of the kind in Dundaff. His saw-mill was the first in successful 
operation there. He married the youngest daughter of James 
Norton, and both, now over eighty years old, are living with a 
daughter in Fleetville, Luzerne County. 

Solomon, John, James, and Daniel, brothers of William Finn, 
also came in, and some of their descendants are still in the town- 
ship. John was a blacksmith ; James was a justice of the peace 
in 1821, and had twelve children, ten of whom lived to adult 
age. Of eight sons Clark, living on Elk Mountain, is the only 
one in Clifford. 

Benjamin Bucklin and family, including Albigence (or Alba) 
and Warren, his sons, came about 1804 and remained several 
years. His farm covered the site of Dundaff, and his house was 
the first built there. 

A saw-mill was built by Mr. Bucklin on the stream which runs 
through Dundaff, and which was the first in the township ; but 
William Finn's mill, on the same stream, was the first in suc- 
cessful operation. 

He went back to the valley of the Mohawk before 1813, and 
his sons afterwards went to Ohio. 

Near the present woolen factory at Dundaff, there was early 
a family by the name of Hulse. 

In 1806, James Wells had a farm of 100 acres at the City. 
He was a native of Minnisink, on the Delaware, where he had a 
grist-mill, and furnished the Eevolutionary army with flour. 
He had a black boy in his service, and sent him one day with an 
ox-team with flour for the soldiers, when he was waylaid by the 
Indians and shot at. They cut out the tongues of the oxen and 
left them to perish, but the boy escaped and fled home. 

After the war, he was settled for some time near the mouth of 
the Tunkhannock, whence he came to Clifford. In 1807, he 
owned the half of a grist-mill near the present site of McAlla's. 
His first mill had been destroyed by a freshet ; Asahel Norton 



390 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

was his partner in putting up the second, which was also carried 
off in a similar manner, before 1813. He built a house with a 
sloping roof and well-guarded porch, and was then living in it; 
it is now occupied by Mrs. McAlla. 

He sold his farm to Lemuel Norton and Horace Phelps, and 
moved to the flat where James Decker now lives, about a mile 
above Clifford Corners, and where Mrs. Wells died February, 
1831, aged sixty-nine years. They had thirteen children — five 
sons and eight daughters. Three of the sons, John, William, 
and Eliphalet settled in Clifford. 

James W. died June, 1839, aged eighty-nine, at the residence 
of his son Eliphalet, on the Collar road, where D. J. Jones now 
lives. His oldest son, John, was married November, 1813, to 
Anna Maria, daughter of Adam Miller, and moved to the place 
where Charles Stevens now is, west of the City ; and, fifteen 
years later, to the farm where his widow still resides, near the 
base of Elk Mountain. He died December, 1843, in his fifty- 
fifth year. Of their eleven children, ten lived to adult age. 

Adam Wells died six years ago, aged fifty-four, of black fever ; 
and Jesse, another son, with six of his family, died of the same 
disease in the course of a few weeks. Eliphalet, another son, is 
in California; Charles and James are in Clifford. A son of 
Adam Wells is a merchant at the City. To the annalist it is in- 
teresting to find the descendants of a worthy pioneer remaining 
in the vicinity where he labored for their benefit. 

Matthew Newton came from Connecticut in 1806 with his wife, 
daughter, and five sons — Henry, Matthew, Benjamin, Isaac, and 
Thomas. He bought the first improvements of Jonathan Burns. 
Newton Pond commemorates the name of this family. 

Matthew Newton, Jr., manufactured all the wheels used by 
the first settlers in spinning wool or flax. Erastus West suc- 
ceeded him in the business, but moved into New York State 
over fifty years ago. 

From 1806 to 1811, we have no certain data, except that 
Epaphras Thompson, a Baptist minister, became a resident. The 
year 1812 is spoken of as "a religious time." 

Ransford Smith settled near the forks of the Lackawanna, just 
above Stillwater Pond. His sons were Ladon, Eansford, Benja- 
min, Samuel, and Philander. 

A large number of new-comers appear upon the tax-list of 
1813; among them were the Deckers, Buchanans, Collars, Hal- 
steads, B. Millard from Lenox, Richard Meredith, James Reeves, 
Leonard Rought, Joel and Jacob Stevens, Urbane Shepherd, the 
Taylors, etc. 

The Clifford and Wilkes-Barre turnpike was begun this year. 
A road was granted from James Reeves' to Joseph Sweet's. 

The heaviest tax-payers within the present limits of Clifford 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 391 

were Amos Harding, Adam Miller, Lemuel Norton, Wm. A. 
Morse, and Joel Stevens. The last named was a clothier. 

In 1814, L.Norton had a grist-mill at the City; and a road 
was granted from the mill to I. Rynearson's in Lenox. J. Doud 
had also a mill on the east branch of the Tunkhannock, four 
miles west of Dundaff. 

Richard Meredith was the first person who applied for natural- 
ization in Susquehanna County. He was born in the parish of 
Bubourn, County of Kent, England, July, 1773 ; sailed from Liv- 
erpool, June, 1803, and landed in New York the September 
following. His application to the court was made January, 1814 ; 
but it does not appear that he received his papers until February, 
1822. 

James Coyle, farmer and drover, first appears on the tax-list 
for 1814, also James Coyle, Jr., and Greorge Coyle (or Coil, as the 
family write the name) ; Calvin and Luther Daly, and William 
Upton. James C. bought out Albigence Bucklin, whose log- 
house, the first dwelling in Dundaff, was opposite the late resi- 
dence of Dr. Terbell. A burying-ground was in the rear. In 
August, 1316, James Coil, Jr., bought of J. B. Wallace lands 
which the latter had bought one month earlier of the Marshal 
of the State, and which had been patented October, 1800, to 
David H. Conyngham, and surveyed on warrants of 1774, in the 
name of Samuel Meredith. J. B. Wallace sold at the same time 
lots numbered 20-22, 33, and 34, to C. and L. Dailey, A. Buck- 
lin, J. Hancock, and Daniel Taylor; also to Redmond Conyng- 
ham, who sold to Wm. A. Morse 100 acres adjoining C. Dailey's, 
and which was transferred (with 100 acres from Dailey) December, 
1817, to A. Dimock, Jr., and afterwards to N. Callender. 

Elnathan and Ebenezer Baker were located at the City in 1814. 

Ellery Crandall came from Hopkinton, R. I., in 1815, and still 
lives where he first located. Elias Burdick and his nephews, 
Thomas, and Billings B., also came from R. I.; Simeon, their 
brother, came the next year, and remained in Clifford until his 
death, December, 1870, in the eighty-second year of his age. 
The sons of Elias are Luther, Stephen, Elisha, and Caleb. 

In 1816* Ezra Lewis came to the old farm of Amos Morse. 
John Westgate, who came from Rhode Island to Mt. Pleasant, 
this year, reached Clifford in 1817, and is now living, over eighty 
years of age, about three miles northeast of Dundaff. In 1817, 
the elections were held at the house of James Wells. 

In 1818, Asher Peck, with his wife and one child, came from 
New London County, Conn. He is still living on the farm 
where he first settled. 

Early in 1818, John Alworth purchased the grist-mill of L. 
Norton; Nathan Callender had an interest in a saw-mill trans- 
ferred from Millard and Buchanan; John Doud had a mill 



392 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

transferred from Calvin Daly. James Green, Beuben Arnold, 
Lawton Gardner, Peter Rynearson, George Brownwell, Nathaniel 
Cotteral, Asa Dimock and sons Asa and Warren, and Philip J. 
Stewart from the Corners, in Herrick, and other new names, ap- 
pear on the tax-list for the first time. Benjamin Brownwell and 
Joseph Berry were also here. 

Asa Dimock had a store at what is now Dundaff, and Warren 
D. kept a tavern opposite. The latter was opened by James 
Coil, and is the back part of the hotel which was years after- 
wards finished by G. Phinney. Horace G. and Austin Phelps 
had a carding-mill at the City. 

A road was then being cut out past Crystal Lake. 
Nathaniel Cotteral married a daughter of Jonathan Burns, and 
was located near the lake that bears his name. He removed to 
Providence, Luzerne County, where he died three or four years 
since. 

Peter Graham's purchase of over 500 acres was made in 1819. 
He was a merchant in Philadelphia, and spent only his summers 
in Dundaff. The place is now occupied by his son George. 
Peter Campbell, a Scotchman, had charge of the farm, and was a 
permanent resident. 

Redmond Conyngham made additional purchases in 1819 ; and 
in 1820, laid out the village named by him Dundaff, in honor of 
Lord Dundaff of Scotland. 

On the 4th of July of that year, the national anniversary was 
celebrated here by the new-comers, and Geo. Haines, Esq., gave 
this toast : " May the pleasant hills of Dundaff become the seat of 
justice." In the fall of 1820, a newspaper styled 'The Pennsyl- 
vanian' was ostensibly published at Dundaff, but in reality at 
Montrose, during the excitement of a political campaign. 

Redmond C. was an elder brother of the late Hon. John N. 
Conyngham of Wilkes-Barre, and represented Luzerne and Sus- 
quehanna in the State Senate about fifty years ago. 

From the fact that the Milford and Owego turnpike passed 
through Dundaff, and from the inducements offered by Mr. 
Conyngham, the place began to attract settlers rapidly. 

He dug a cellar and a well on a knoll overlooking the lake 
and present borough, but it does not appear he ever built a house 
and resided here. He owned a grist-mill here in 1820. 
John and Peter Rivenburg were also here at that time. 
In 1821, the first physician, Henry Burnham, came and re- 
mained a year or two. Previously, Dr. Giddings practiced, 
coming from another county. 

Jacob Bedford was the first hatter in the place. 
Samuel Davis, a blacksmith ; Stephen Lampson, a carpenter ; 
William Tinker, Samuel Woodruff; and Elias Bell were new 
arrivals,. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 393 

In 1822, Col. Gould Phinney bought several farms in the 
township. R. Conynghatn bought the Lake farm. James Coil 
sold land to both these parties, at a later date. 

Isaac Truesdell (Truesdale ?) was on the western slope of Elk 
Mountain — the first settler there. Martin Decker was on the 
flat now occupied by J. C. Decker. 

James Holies came the same year. He had twenty-two chil- 
dren, of whom the eldest, James, now resides on the eastern slope 
of Elk Mountain. 

In 1823, Phelps and Phinney owned enterprises at the City, 
which had not then a thought of being outdone by the new set- 
tlement at Dundaff, and was styled Phinneyton. 

Kendall Burdick, a brother of Elias, came in 1824; and died 
in Clifford, March, 1871, aged ninety-three. 

March, 1824, Col. Gould Phinney came with fourteen others 
from Wyoming Valley, and settled in Dundaff. Charles Wells 
arrived the following April, and at first kept store for Col. P., 
but afterwards independently many years. Before this time 
there were but three dwellings, with a school-house and hat- 
shop, in the place. Nathan H. Lyons had a distillery. Geo. W. 
Healy, merchant; C. B. Merrick, physician ; John Wells, Eobert 
Arnet, Ebenezer Brown, miller ; Benjamin Ayres, stage propri- 
etor ; and Archippus Parrish, were among the new-comers. Mr. 
Parrish took charge of the Dundaff Hotel. Col. Phinney at this 
time had a grist and a saw-mill, a blacksmith and wagon shop, 
and a store in Dundaff; also an interest in a line of stages, and a 
farm, and gave employment to many. In 1825, he started a 
bank, and transferred his store to Joseph Arnold. A public 
toast, July 4th, 1825, at Dundaff, in reference to this and to the 
failure of the old Silver Lake Bank, was : " Fifty per cent, dis- 
count — Experience has taught us that silver is too heavy a metal to 
swim on Silver Lake — May the Northern Bank be established on 
more permanent foundation." 

Dilton Yarrington came to Dundaff in 1825. He was born at Wilkes- 
Barre, in 1803. His father, Peter Y., was a blacksmith, but, in early life, 
had been an agent for Matthias Hollenback in trading with the Indians in 
the vicinity of Tioga Point, at which time he was taken captive by them. 
He was retained about four years, between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, before 
he could make his escape. Abel Yarrington, grandfather of Dilton Y., came 
to Wyoming from Stonington, Connecticut, in 1772, with his wife and three 
children ; Lucinda, afterwards Mrs. Arnold Colt, John, and Peter, then two 
years old. Abel Y. had the first regular public house, and the first ferry at 
Wilkes-Barre. On the day of the massacre, July 3, 1778, the leading men, 
in anticipation of an engagement with hostile forces, agreed that Mr. Y. 
should remain at the ferry, to facilitate a retreat if necessary. In the disaster 
that followed, he ferried many persons over, who fled eastward, and remained 
at his post until the Indians were in sight, and their shots skimming the 
water by the side of the scow or flat ; he then was obliged to turn a deaf ear 
to the entreaties of those on shore, and. taking in his family, escaped down 
the river. He was in Wyoming again in 1780, if not sooner ; was a strong 



39-t HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

believer in the rights of Connecticut claimants to Wyoming; and one of the 
volunteers who went from Wilkes-Barre to suppress the " Whisky Rebellion/' 

The experiences of both his father and grandfather left their influence 
upon Dilton. In 1816, he began learning his trade with his father, and for 
thirty years he worked in a blacksmith shop. On the last day of February, 
1825, he walked from his father's (one mile below the court-house in Wilkes- 
Barre) to Dundaff — thirty-seven miles — arriving before dark. Where Car- 
bondale now is, there was then a thick laurel swamp. The next year he was 
employed by Gould Phinney at blacksmithing, but in 1826 set up business 
for himself. In 1827, he was married ; and in 1828 built the house he occu- 
pied until 1842 (lately vacated by Thomas Arnold), and then built on the lot 
next above. He says : — 

" Christmas, 1825, I ran a race on skates, on Crystal Lake, with Benajah 
P. Bailey, for $10 a side. I took the stakes ; distance one mile from north 
to south corners — I ran it in 2 minutes and 33 seconds. I then ran one- 
fourth of a mile with Gould Phinney for $20 a side. Judges decided that he 
was halfway when I was out. At the end of the last race, I jumped fifteen 
feet, six inches, on skates. The ice was smooth and the day pleasant; and, 
as word had been sent out to neighboring towns, there were more than 500 
people there to see the race." 

In 1835, D. Yarrington was appointed justice of the peace by Gov. Wolf, 
and held the office until he was elected, under the new constitution, for five 
years following 1842. 

He assisted in forming the first temperance society in Dundaff, and also 
the anti-slavery society, when both organizations excited the strong aversion 
of a majority of the community. 

He removed to Carbondale in 1847, where, with two sons, he still resides. 

Dr. William Terbell came to Dundaff in 1825 or '6, and built just 
below Gould Phinney, on the hill near the Presbyterian church. 
He removed to Corning in 1837. 

The following persons, it is said, were then residents: Wood- 
bury S. Wilbur, Stephen Lampson, Win. Wells, carpenters; 
Benajah P. Bailey, tanner and currier; Samuel Davis and David 
Pease, blacksmiths; Alex. C. Shafer and Hugh Fell, wagon- 
makers; Ezra Stuart, shoemaker; Oliver Daniels, cooper; Ly- 
man C. Hines; Earl Wheeler, Lawyer; Charles Thompson, 
Presbyterian minister; Joseph B. Slocum, tinner; in 1827, Mat- 
thias Button, physician ; Isaiah Mapes, merchant ; Thomas Wells, 
justice of the peace ; and Nathan Daniels. This year the " North- 
ern Bank of Pennsylvania," suspended operations. 

Sylvester Johnson and Sanford Robertson, merchants ; Jona- 
than Stage, John Bennet, and Thomas Burch, farmers, were here 
in 1828. 

Pickerel were then brought from Tunkhannock to stock the 
lakes. 

Several who had been in business at the City removed to Dun- 
daff) and among them the Phelps family, of whom there were 
eventually seven brothers here, originally from Connecticut. 
Horace G., a merchant, went to Corning in 1836, and died but 
recently. Alexander C. is a physician in Abington ; Jaman H. 
was a tanner and currier at Dundaff' in 1828, now of Scranton ; 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 395 

Edward died at D. in 1836 ; Norman, now a former in Abington ; 
John Jay, recently a banker in New York, but now deceased ; 
and Sherman D., who removed in 1830, and has since resided in 
Binghamton, N. Y. 

On the 5th of March, 1828, Dundaff was incorporated a borough, 
one mile square. 

A few days, previous, Sloane Hamilton, formerly a teacher at 
Montrose, established the ' Dundaff Republican' — a " political, 
literary, moral, and religious mirror," the subscription list of 
Elder D. Dimock's ' Mirror' being transferred in part to this. 
Controversy was excluded, but the strong religious sentiment 
then prevailing demanded religious intelligence. Mr. H. was 
joined by Earl Wheeler, April, 1831, but in March, 1832, the 
paper passed into the hands of Amzi Wilson, who changed the 
name to 'Northern Pennsylvanian ;' and in December, removed 
the establishment to Carbondale, which place was then thought 
about to become a great city. 

In 1829, if not earlier, another physician, Joseph Falkner, ar- 
rived. He died in 1843 or '4. 

Nathan Callender died in 1830, and at this time Benjamin 
Ayres kept the tavern of which Mr. C. had been proprietor at an 
early day. When Mr. C. left it, he built opposite the banking 
house — which since 1832 has been the residence of Thomas P. 
Phinney, Esq. 

James Chambers came in this year, and Wm. H. Slocum, 
wagon-maker. 

B. Ayres afterwards kept the hotel near Crystal Lake ; the 
present house was built by Peter Campbell. 

Dr. Wm. S. Gritman came in 1830, and left in 1836. Dr. 
Thomas Halsey was also one of the temporary residents. Dr. 
Merrick died in the place. Dr. Johnson Olmstead has been a 
resident and practicing physician for more than twenty years. 

There were at least three taverns in Clifford in 1830, and four 
more applicants for licenses which were probably obtained ; these 
were all or principally located on the line of the Milford and 
Owego turnpike. This great thoroughfare, which contributed so 
much to the business activity of Dundaff and Clifford, has ceased 
to be a wonder, but it shows the enterprise and endurance our 
fathers possessed. 

A convention was held at Dundaff, February 22, 1830, in favor 
of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The delegates 
were among the most prominent men of the county. 

The company had been complained of as obstructing naviga- 
tion by placing dams in the Delaware and Lackawaxen, and as 
being unwilling to open the canal to the public. The subject 
was one of intense interest to all classes of our citizens. There 
had been resolutions, in various quarters, in favor of memorializ- 



396 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

ing the legislature against the company ; but at a meeting held 
in Montrose on the 1st of February, 1830, other resolutions were 
unanimously adopted against memorializing, and in favor of the 
canal, which, it was believed, would be a great benefit to Wayne, 
Pike, Susquehanna, Bradford, and Luzerne Counties. 

The meeting on the 23d February, 1830, also passed resolu- 
tions in agreement with this. The final report of the committee 
before the legislature exonerated the company from blame, with- 
out a dissenting voice. 

In 1831, Phelps, Phinney & Co. established a glass factory at 
Dundaff. The glass blown here was said to be of an excellent 
quality. 

The Dundaff Academy was established in 1833. Six years 
later, Hon. A. H. Read procured $2000 from the State in aid of 
the institution. The building, still standing, never had any archi- 
tectural beauty, but it had a praiseworthy influence in another 
and a better way, and associations cling around it which are re- 
called by many with pleasure. Eevs. E. O. Ward and B. Allen, 
and Miss Farrar, were among the first teachers. 

In 1837 a military convention was held here, which attracted 
considerable attention. At an early day, there had been two 
companies, commanded by Captains James Wells and James 
Coil. 

Dundaff had high aspirations, as appears by the toast given July 
4th, 1820 ; but in 1836 they began to yield to the claims of Car- 
bondale, which was the proposed seat of justice of a county to be 
carved out of Luzerne, and the townships of Clifford, Herrick, 
and Lenox of Susquehanna County. 

In 1838-9 there were renewed petitions for a division of the 
county, indicating the tendency of the people to unite with Lu- 
zerne; and it cannot be denied but that the natural features of 
the section justified them. Had their wish prevailed over that 
of the central and western portions of the county, the result could 
not have been more depressing to the enterprise of Dundaff than 
it has been by their remaining. 

To the tourist and summer visitor, Dundaff and vicinity have 
great attraction. A steamboat costing $3000 has been placed 
upon Crystal Lake, and a commodious hotel has been erected. 

There are other points of interest within easy access, the chief 
of which is Prospect Rock. If one does not care to climb so 
high an elevation, a short ride to the school-house in Marsh Dis- 
trict will furnish a delightful view about eighty miles in extent. 

As late as 1867, a deer was killed at Stillwater Pond, by Wm. 
Hartley, Esq., the head of which, an unusually fine one, he 
stuffed, and with its branching antlers, it now ornaments the hall 
of his residence in Lenox. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 397 

RELIGIOUS. 

The Presbyterian church received its charter from the Supreme 
Court in 1830. The edifice had been occupied about two years. 
Rev. Wm. Adams was then the pastor. The church was self- 
supporting from 1834 to 1844, had able ministers, and over sixty 
members, of whom but very few remain in the place. 

The Baptist society is the oldest in the township, dating from 
about 1802, when the Rev. E. Thompson officiated as a mis- 
sionary, near Clifford Corners. Elder Charles Miller was pastor 
of this church, and died here in 1865, aged seventy-two. He 
was succeeded by his son, Elder Wm. Miller. A Baptist church 
was built at the City in 1855. The " Seventh Day" Baptists have 
a church in the Burdick settlement. 

"St. John's Chapel" (Episcopal) in 1835, was the former bil- 
liard-room of Col. Phinney. The edifice in which they now 
worship was not erected until within the last ten or twelve years. 

The Methodists have a church at Dundaff, and another (Union ?) 
at Clifford Corners. Including the Welsh church, there are 
eight houses of worship in the township. 

In the cemetery at Clifford Corners are the graves of the fol- 
lowing residents for a long period of time in the vicinity : Rev. 
Wm. Wells, born in 1790, died in 1857 ; John Alworth, aged 83 ; 
Roger Orvis, 81, and his widow, 87; Artemas Baker, 73 ; James 
Greene, 72 ; David Smith, 76, and his widow, 93 ; Peter Riven- 
burgh, Q6 ; Stephen Hodgdon, 63 ; and Geo. Brownell, who died 
in 1869. 

• THE WELSH SETTLEMENT. 

The slopes of Elk Mountain were not, in general, cultivated 
before the accession of the Welsh to the population of Clifford. 

The pioneer among them was Thomas Watkins, a native of 
Carmaerthenshire, South Wales. He left that country about 
1830 ? and in 1832 came from Carbondale and bought a piece of 
wild land at the base of South Peak, but still well up on the 
mountain from the City on the Tunkhannock — its real southern 
base. All around him was a dense forest, mostly of hemlock. 
Here Mr. and Mrs W. resided, without the society of their coun- 
trymen, two years. 

In 1834, Zacharias Jenkins, Daniel Moses, David Anthony, 
David Rees, William P. Davis, Rev. Thomas Edwards, David 
Edwards, and Robert Ellis, with their families, settled around him. 

Mr. Ellis, a native of North Wales, had been in America seve- 
ral years, and came from New York, with the others, to Clifford. 
He located on the Collar road, which connects the Newburgh 
with the Milford and Owego turnpike; — along which several 
small openings had been made. His widow and son, Robert E., 
Jr., still occupy the old place, near the head of Long Pond. 



398 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

With the exception of Mr. E., the party of immigrants were 
from South Wales. They left their native country May 21st, 
1834, from Swansea, in a brig bound for Quebec. The vessel 
was only of 200 tons burden, not much larger than a canal-boat. 
There were on board, the captain and five sailors, with thirty : four 
passengers. Most of the latter were religious people — Dissenters 
— now " coming to a country where they could be freed from 
paying tithes and supporting a church they did not believe in." 
They held religious meetings on board the ship,, and as they had 
cross-winds the greater part of their voyage, they were seven 
weeks on the water before landing at Quebec. Three families 
among the passengers remained in Canada ; the others came to 
Clifford. 

Zacharias Jenkins settled east of Long Pond,, where Samuel 
Owens now lives. He was accompanied by his son Evan, who 
married a daughter of W m. P.. Davis, and has since removed to 
a farm near the line of Gibson. Ann, a daughter of Z. J., was the 
first person buried in the Welsh settlement. 

For many years the families endured all the hardships of 
pioneers, often carrying heavy burdens to mills, and from Car- 
bondale, twelve miles distant. The few cows they owned 
browsed in the woods during the summer season, and as they 
often failed to come home at night, their owners were obliged to 
hunt them up, and they were often lost in the woods. 

Mr. Jenkins, when sixty-seven years of age, was lost in a 
swamp near Mud Pond. Night overtook him, and, as wolves in 
great numbers, and an occasional bear or panther, roved through 
the woods, he climed a tall pine for safety.' Here he remained 
through the night, the wolves howling around him. In the 
morning, he followed the outlet of the pond through water and 
thickets, until he came to the Milford and Owego turnpike with- 
in one mile of where Lonsdale now is. When asked how he 
spent the night, he replied,. " Happy, praying and singing most 
of the time." He is remembered as "an excellent singer and a 
good christian." 

Thomas Watkins cleared a large farm and remained in Clif- 
ford until his death, May,. 18>70, at the age of sixty-seven. He 
was a worthy and much esteemed citizen. His widow resides 
with their son Watkin, on the old homestead ; another son, John, 
is near by. 

Most of those who were heads of families among the first party 
are dead. 

The second party of immigrants came soon after, but they had 
been located at Carbondale two or three years previously. Among 
them were David J. and David E. Thomas, Evan Jones (from 
North Wales). Job Nicholas, John Michael, and others. 

Like the New England Pilgrims, the first care of this people 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 399 

was provision for their spiritual and educational needs. The 
church was organized the same year, 1834. Thomas Edwards, 
their first pastor, remained among them until the close of 1835, 
when he accepted a call to Pittsburg. 

In 1836, Kev. Jenkin Jenkins, son of Zacharias, who preceded 
his father in coming to America, finished his studies at Auburn 
Theological Seminary, N. Y., and took charge of the Presbyte 
rian church at Dundaff, and also of the Welsh church at the 
settlement. He preached to both churches nearly seven years, 
and then moved to Illinois. He is now in Minnesota. 

Henry Davis, a native of Glanmorganshire, South Wales, left 
the old country about the same time as Mr. Watkins, but did 
not follow him from Carbondale, until 1836 ; when he came to 
the farm adjoining his, on the western slope of Elk Mountain. 

In 1839, the first church edifice was built. After several 
years it was found inadequate to the accommodation of the 
increasing settlement, and about 1856, the present neat struc- 
ture, with a spire, was erected. 

Eev. Samuel Williams succeeded Mr. Jenkins in the pastorate, 
remaining about two years. He is now in the Middletown 
settlement. 

They often held meetings with Americans who were religious, 
though neither could understand the language of the other. 
Some prayed in Welsh, others in English, and both sang the 
same tune together, each using their own language in hymns of 
the same meter, while the Holy Spirit communicated its influence 
from soul to soul, until sometimes all present would be in tears. 

In 1850, Rev. Daniel Daniels became pastor of the church, 
and is still retained in its service. His charge includes also the 
Welsh families of Gibson and Herrick. 

In Clifford there are forty-two Welsh families,, though there 
are in all but twenty-two family names ~ and what is still more 
remarkable, there are but six additional names in the entire 
settlement, which extends in the townships mentioned above, 
and includes seventy -five families. 

An emotional and poetical people, the Welsh are still emi- 
nently practical, and are possessed of much stability. Their 
character reflects the features of their native land, whose rugged 
fastnesses are linked with heroism and song. Temperate, indus- 
trious, and honest, they constitute a most desirable class in a 
community. 



400 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

LATHROP. 

This is the central township on the southern line of Susque- 
hanna County. It was taken from Brooklyn April, 1846. 

The names given to this section, while it was a part of Luzerne, 
were: Tioga, Nicholson, and Bridgewater. Soon after the organi- 
zation of Susquehanna County, it formed a part of the new town- 
ship of Waterford, and shared its several names, until formed 
into an independant township, named in honor of Benjamin 
Lathrop, Associate Judge of the county. 

The north line of Lathrop crosses six well-traveled roads, 
one of which — the Abington and Waterford turnpike — for many 
years, subsequent to 1823, was the great thoroughfare of the 
township. Two other roads, as well as this, traverse the entire 
length of Lathrop, besides the Delaware, Lackawana and West- 
ern Railroad, which follows Martin's Creek on the east side — 
the tract set off April, 1853, from Lenox. Prior to this date 
the creek had been the boundary line. The railroad crosses the 
county line near the house of H. P. Halstead, about half a mile 
above the village of Nicholson. 

Horton's and Martin's Creeks drain the township, passing 
through it from north to south. Tarbell's, Lord's, and a part of 
Field's pond — the only ones larger than mill-ponds — are still 
small sheets of water. The outlets of the first two are tributary 
to Horton's Creek. The valley of Martin's Creek is a narrow 
deep gorge, barely wide enough for a carriage road on the west 
side, and for the railroad on the other; and comparatively few of 
the population are located on it below the village of Hopbottorm 

So far as can be ascertained, the present area of Lathrop, in 
the spring of 1799, had but one human inhabitant — a hermit by 
the name of Sprague. Charles Miner, writing of this individual 
and of his own experiences in 1799, said : — 

" Four or five miles below Captain Chapman (then living on 0. M. Chap- 
man's present place, in Brooklyn) lived in solitude Joseph Sprague, twelve 
or fourteen miles of wilderness intervening between him and Marcy's mill in 
the settlement on the Tunkhannock. 

" Having made sugar with Sprague on shares, I took a horse load down the 
Tunkhannock, peddled it out, a pound of «6ugar for a pound of pork, seven 
and a half pounds for a bushel of wheat, five pounds for a bushel of corn. 
Saw the Susquehanna, got a grist ground, returned, and with Mr. Chase 1 

1 A young man who came from Connecticut with Mr. Miner. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 401 

made knapsacks of coarse shirts, filled them with provisions, and each tak- 
ing an ax on his shoulder, we took the bridle path by Mr. Parke's, and 
thence fifteen miles more or less — arrived at Rindaw or Hyde's, at the forks 
of the Wyalusing. I do not think a line drawn due south from Binghamton 
to the Tunkhannock — near forty miles — would have cut out a laid-out road, 
or come in sight of a house or cabin of an earlier date than the preceding 
summer." 

During the last illness of "the hermit," in Wilkes-Barre, 
several years later, he willed his land to Mr. Blanchard — the gen- 
tleman who took care of him. Afterwards there was trouble 
between Mr. Blanchard and those who held themselves to be 
the rightful heirs to the property, on the plea that the testator 
was incapable of making a will uninfluenced, or that he was not 
in a proper state of mind. The place was for a long time occu- 
pied by one of these heirs, but was finally sold at auction (300 
acres constituting the estate), when it was bought by an associa- 
tion of gentlemen, who sold to John Chapman. It is now owned 
and occupied by Dr. Samuel Wright, and the location is called 
the "Five Corners ;" it is on the west side of Martin's Creek, just 
above the Hopbottom Depot. It is said that Sprague was the 
son of a surveyor to whom the land was promised by a Philadel- 
phia landholder, in case of its occupancy by himself or family. 

In the fall of 1799, Captain Charles Gere came from Vermont 
with others who joined the Hopbottom settlement. This ex- 
tended over the present area of Brooklyn, the southeast corner 
of Dimock, and the northern part of Lathrop. He began his 
clearing on the place now owned by John Lord, on the Abing- 
ton and Waterford turnpike; but did not bring in his family 
until 1801. After a year or two all removed north of the pre- 
sent line of Lathrop, one mile west of Mack's corners. 

In 1801, John S. Tarbell (an uncle of J. S. Tarbell, of Mont- 
rose) was on the farm afterwards known as Mitchell's Meadows. 
Tarbell's Pond received its name from him. He removed in 
1816 or 1817. 

Josiah Lord came from Lyme, Connecticut, in 1801, to look 
for land, and in 1802, having purchased the improvement of 
Captain Gere, brought his family, including four sons — Josiah, 
Blisha, John, and Enoch. Mr. Lord and Mr. Tarbell were then 
the only settlers between the north line of the present township 
and Horton's mill, below Susquehanna County. Mr. Sprague 
lived two and a half miles due east of Mr. Lord. The latter 
remained on his first location (now occupied by his grandson, 
John Lord, Jr.) until his death, in 1845, at the age of 78. 

His sons settled on what is now the Abington and Waterford 
turnpike ; Enoch made the first improvement at Tarbell's Pond, 
and built a saw-mill there in 1820. The place is now known as 
Lakeside. 

(The improvement of J. Silvius was not made until 1835.) 
26 



402 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The following, with some additional details, was written by 
John Lord, Sr v in the summer of 1856 : — 

" My father, Josiah Lord, located with his family 1 in what is now called Lath- 
rop township, in 1801. There was but one family then in Lathrop, and only 
six in what is now called Brooklyn. There is but one man of my acquaint- 
ance now living, who was here and had a family when I came here, and he 
is Captain Amos Bailey. 

"About the 1st of April, 1803, my father was absent from home, leaving me 
and my brother Elisha to attend to the cattle, which had gone up a small 
creek into the woods. A little before sunset they came into the clearing on 
the run, and turned around and looked back, with heads up, as if they were 
much frightened. As one of the cows did not come, we went in search of 
her, hunted until dark, but in vain. In the morning we renewed our search, 
and found her between two logs. She was thrown upon her back, her horns 
stuck in the ground ; the jugular veins were gnawed in two, and her flanks 
ripped open. Nothing of her calf was to be found but one of the hoofs and 
a part of the skull. 

"My father procured a large double-springed, spike-joined bear-trap, set it 
by the cow and covered it with dirt. It had been undisturbed for a week, 
when father took up the trap and brought it to the house. The next day 
my brother and I found that the cow had been torn to pieces by the wolves. 
My brother then said, a German hunter had told him father did not set the 
trap right. He added a proposal to me to help him set it according to the 
hunter's directions, and, said he, ' we will have one of the wolves before father 
comes home.' We collected all the fragments of the old cow in a pile 
against a log, and then went home for the trap. We knew mother would 
not let us set it, if she suspected our plan, so my brother left me outside the 
house while he went in, agreeing to whistle 'Yankee Doodle' when mother's 
attention should be so engaged she would not be likely to see me bear off the 
trap. I waited some time for the signal, but on hearing it I shouldered the 
trap and ran for the woods. When I got there I was very much exhausted, 
as the trap was very heavy. My brother soon came with an ax, and we set 
the trap with two large hand-spikes, and deposited it in the water in front 
of the bait. The trap was two inches under water, and the pan we covered 
with moss. The bait we covered with logs in such a way that the wolves 
could not get access to it without going into the trap. 

About 2 o'clock the next morning we were waked up by a sudden yell of 
the wolves, and they yelled without intermission until daylight. We got up 
an hour before daylight to run some balls. My brother then told mother we 
had set the trap and had got a wolf in it, and were going to kill it. She was 
much frightened, and used every means, except force, to prevent us from 
going into the woods until father's return ; but the prospect of revenge 
upon the wolves for killing the cow — decidedly the best old mully of our 
three - carried our minds above every other consideration, and we started off 
so early that my brother said he could not see the sights of his rifle, and we 
sat down on a log to wait until it should be lighter. I was ten years old the 
February preceding, and my brother was not quite twelve. My brother had 
killed several deer, and was a good shot with a rifle. I had never shot one. 

"The wolves continued howling, the fine yelp of the pups increasing the 
roar which seemed to shake the earth like thunder. I was seized with a 
sudden impulse of fear. I remembered reading that some children who had 
disobeyed their parents went into the woods to play, and God gave them up 
to bears which devoured them. I had disobeyed my kind mother for the 
first time, and my conscience smote me. We had left her in sobs and tears, 
and were in a dark wilderness with a gang of wolves. Suddenly they were 



1 The family, it is believed, were not here until 1802, at the earliest. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 403 

still, and I expected they were surrounding us. Every sin that ever I com- 
mitted rushed into my mind, and I felt a true sense of my meanness. Just 
then my brother rose and said, ' Come, it is light enough now to commence 
the battle.' With much difficulty I succeeded in rising, but my legs utterly 
refused to carry me toward the scene of danger. Concealing my cowardice 
as much as possible, I said the wolf had got out of the trap, and we had better 
go back and relieve mother of her fright. But he said, ' No, we have got 
one fast, I want you to go very still, for I want to get a shot at one that is 
not in the trap, first, and if I do, you may shoot the one in the trap.' This 
was a grand idea ; I thought no more about the bear story, or about mother, 
or any of my rascally capers, and my fear all left me. Moving on, we were 
soon in plain view of where we set the trap. We lay in ambush some time, 
but as no wolves were to be seen we went to the bait, and the trap was gone ! 
There were tufts of hair and plenty of blood, and the ground was torn up. 
The track of the wolf was plain and we followed it up the creek about ten 
rods, when, as we turned around a short curve in the creek, a gang of wolves 
started and ran up the bank, too swift for my brother to shoot with success. 
The wolf with the trap started at the same time and ran up the creek, and 
we followed after, about thirty rods, when we could not find the track 
further ; but as a log there reached from one bank to another, my brother 
told me to go on the whole length of the log, and find where the wolf got 
over. Near the further bank a beech tree with the leaves on had fallen the 
summer before, and made a thick brush heap on and below the log. In get- 
ting through this brush I slipped from the log. My bare feet — shoes were 
not fashionable for boys in those days — felt the soft fur of the wolf and the 
flinch under them, at the same instant I heard the trap rattle ; one bound 
brought me out of the brush, and I exclaimed, ' Here is the wolf hid under 
the brush !' My brother was looking at me with a grin, and replied, ' I 
thought you had found something by the way you jumped?' He told me to 
stand back, and, as he fired the wolf gave a growl and commenced a violent 
struggle. He then told me to go above the log and keep the wolf from get- 
ting through under the log, until he could load his rifle. She had got her 
head through, but could get no further. The ball had passed through the 
wolf's mouth, and some of the teeth were hanging out. My brother came 
over the log, and told me to get behind a tree, for in his hurry he had put 
his powder horn to the muzzle of his rifle and poured in the powder by guess, 
and he did not know what it might do, for he would let it all go together. I 
told him to smash away. He let fly, and I saw the wolf's ear lop down. It 
was the most deafening report of a rifle I ever heard. I went towards the 
wolf's head and found the ball had gone through it ; some of the brain was 
protruding from the ball-hole. We then went below the log and drew out 
the wolf — the largest one I ever saw. 

" At this juncture we heard mother scream. She seemed to be coming in 
the woods towards us. We answered her, but she made so much noise herself 
— screaming every breath, as on she came, like a raving maniac — she could 
not hear, and did not see us, though we ran to meet her, until we were close to 
her. She then sat down on a log, and oh, what a picture of fright ! In 
running through a laurel thicket she had scratched her face so that it bled in 
several places, and she was as pale as a corpse. Her combs had been pulled 
out and lost, and her long hair was streaming in every direction ; she tried 
to arrange it, but her hands trembled so she could not do it, and it was some 
time before she could speak." 

John Lord, Jr., in transmitting the above, adds : — 

"Father was very feeble when he wrote it, and ,died without finishing it, 
August, 1856. I have often heard him tell this story. He and his brother 
dragged home the wolf, and their mother carried home the gun. Father and 



404 ' HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

uncle afterwards captured a young bear, took him home alive, and kept him 
for some time; but he made his escape by gnawing off the rope with which 
he was tied." 

In the fall of 1803, Barnard Worthing came from Yermont 
and purchased an improvement — the Abel Green farm — and 
returned. Two of his sons came in soon after to make prepara- 
tions for the family's arrival in the fall of 1804 ; but they spent 
the following winter with Sargent Tewksbury, in Brooklyn. 
In the spring of 1805 they moved into their own house on the 
farm just mentioned, and which is now occupied by C. R. Bailey 
and G. C. Bronson. (It belonged to the Drinker estate, and at 
the time of the erection of Lathrop, was occupied by Francis 
Perkins, the first constable of the new township.) Barnard Wor- 
thing and son Jacob were interested in Paine's cotton factory in 
Brooklyn. Mr. W. was an Episcopalian in sentiment, but his 
family were active Methodists. 

Anthony Wright came from Somers, Connecticut, in 1809, to 
the first farm above Sprague's place, which was then occupied 
by Ira Sweatland, one of the claimants previously mentioned. 
A granddaughter of Anthony Wright (Mrs. William Squiers 1 ) 
now lives on the farm he occupied for forty-eight years. He 
died December, 1857, in his 74th year. He was a prominent 
Methodist.' His brothers, Wise and Samuel, settled in Brooklyn. 
Their father, Captain Samuel Wright, a Presbyterian, came to 
Lathrop some time later, and went into the woods a mile west of 
Hopbottom, where he cleared a farm. He died in 1835. 

The sons of Anthony Wright were Loren and Samuel; the 
latter has been a botanic physician for more than twenty-five 
years. 

In 1811, Elisha Smith and Noah Pratt (with families) settled 
on Horton's Creek, below Josiah Lord. 

In 1812, Levi Phelps cleared the farm now occupied by Reu- 
ben Squiers, near the junction of the outlet of Tarbell's Pond 
with Horton's Creek. 

Bela Case had come to what is now Brooklyn, as early as 
1810, but afterwards removed to the present location of Hop- 
bottom Depot. It is said a man by the name of Jason Webster 
had been there before him. He was from New York, but he 
soon returned and died. Orson, son of Bela Case, remained at H. 

William Squiers (father of Mrs. Dr. Wright) came from West- 
field, Vermont, in the fall of 1816, to the farm now occupied by 
A. Sterling, near the north line of Lathrop (then Waterford), on 
the first road east of Horton's Creek. About 1826, be went to 
the farm cleared by Phelps, where he died May, 1865, in his 

1 William Squiers is a son of Arey Squiers — a Springville family not related 
to William Squiers the early settler of Lathrop. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 405 

78th year. He had nine children. He was an active Presby- 
terian, and was a constant attendant upon the meetings held at 
Brooklyn Center, though he resided in the south part of Lathrop 
nearly forty years. 

Joshua Jackson and Joseph Fisk came from Vermont with 
their families about the same time as Mr. Squiers. Mr. Fisk 
settled near the first location of Mr. S. He moved some years 
later to Springville, at what is now called Niven P. 0., but pre- 
viously "Fisk's Corners." He became a Mormon, and left the 
county to join the "Latter Day Saints" in the West. 

Mr. Jackson (commonly styled deacon) settled above the town- 
ship line ; but his sons, Joshua, Joseph, and Caleb, settled in 
Lathrop. They are said to have been great choppers. Their 
father died September, 1842, aged 80. 

Henry Mitchell came, in 1816, to the place previously occu- 
pied by J. S. Tarbell — a flat where two creeks empty into Hor- 
ton's Creek within a short distance of each other — since called 
"Mitchell's Meadows," and recently "the Searle farm." 

Bphraim Tewksbury and sons, Asa and Isaac, came to this 
section the same year. He died many years ago in Lathrop ; 
Asa died at Hopbottom January, 1871, aged seventy-four and a 
half years. 

Isaac Brown was here early. 

The first justices of the peace in Lathrop were Geo. L. Tewks- 
bury and Ezra S. Brown ; Isaac S. Tewksbury, first town-clerk. 
There were about fifty taxables in the township in 1847. The 
present population is very nearly 1000. 

There are at Hopbottom four stores, one hotel, two blacksmith- 
shops, one flouring-mill, one saw-mill, one tin-shop, and the sta- 
tion offices of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Eailroad. 
The village is mostly on the east side of Martin's Creek, and its 
residents are principally descendants of the early settlers of 
Brooklyn and Lenox ; the Bells, Merrills, etc., in addition to the 
families already mentioned. 

The Good Templars have a hall, and an effective organization. 

The early religious interests of Lathrop were identified with 
those of Brooklyn, the church-going people of the former either 
attending the churches of the latter, or worshipping in private 
houses and school-houses until late in 1870, when the first M. E. 
church at Hopbottom was dedicated — the first house of worship 
of any denomination within the limits of Lathrop. " On the day 
of dedication, December 15th, $1800 were to be provided for 
after the infant society had done all it felt able to do ;" but under 
the benign influences of the occasion, the entire sum was pledged, 
and the new church has auspiciously begun its history. The 
house, 35 by 50 feet, with bell and belfry, was built at a cost 
of $3200. 



406 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" The elder brethren of the Conference, who traveled the 
Brooklyn Circuit in its earlier history, will remember the ap- 
pointment at ' Anthony Wright's' on the Martin Creek. Well, 
this is the Wright appointment, and the faith which dwelt in 
'Father Wright' is descending to the generations that bear his 
name." 

One week later, December 28th, 1870, the conference of Sus- 
quehanna Association of Universalists met at Hopbottom, and 
dedicated another church edifice, rivaling the other in beauty. "It 
is 36 by 56 feet, with 22 feet posts, surmounted with a belfry and 
steeple nearly 100 feet high. The cost of the building was about 
$5600. The windows are oval on the top, and of colored glass. 
The building is of wood, but the roof is covered with the best 
quality of slate. The front is ornamented with a large oval 
window, which lights the orchestra, and this is also of colored 
glass. The society of Universalists has been organized here but 
a short time, and already has the largest Sunday-school in the 
association." [Newspaper item.] 

The second Methodist Episcopal Church of Lathrop was in the 
course of erection the same year, at Lake Side, near the center of 
the township ; and was completed at a cost of $2600, and ded- 
icated February 16th, 1871. On that day the people were in- 
formed that $1000 was needed to free the church from debt; and 
$1100 was raised with help from friends in Nicholson. 

The previous conference year had witnessed a large increase 
of membership to the Methodists of " the old Brooklyn circuit;" 
and the marked advance in church enterprise was doubtless in 
part due to this, as well as to the fact that the directors of 
school-districts were unwilling to have the school-houses opened 
for public worship any longer. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

SPRINGVILLE. 

At the second term of court after the organization of the 
county, a petition was presented for a new township to be set off 
from the southern part of Bridgewater, but it was not until 
April, 1814, that Springville was "finally" confirmed by the 
court. Its northern limit was the five-mile-tree on the Wilkes- 
Barre turnpike south of Montrose, extending eastward to one- 
half a mile east of the Meshoppen. Waterford (including Lath- 
rop and Brooklyn) was taken from Bridgewater at the same time, 



HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY 407 

and formed the eastern boundary of Springville, while Brain- 
trim (changed to Auburn, same court) was the western, with the 
exception of a mile where Rush adjoined it. Eighteen years 
later, on the erection of Dimock township, the line of the latter 
was extended nearly a mile further north, and Springville was 
reduced to its present limits — about six miles on the county line 
by five miles north and south. 

The township is well watered by two large branches of the 
Meshoppen and their tributaries, also by excellent springs. Its 
lakes are scarcely more than mill-ponds, the largest being Field's 
Pond in the southeast corner, crossed by the line of Lathrop. Its 
hills sloping to the waters of the Meshoppen are high, but pre- 
sent no peaks of special note. The soil is fertile, and the farms 
are in a high state of cultivation — perhaps there are none finer 
than those along the turnpike, which passes through the town- 
ship from north to south. Eye, oats, and corn grow better than 
wheat. Great attention is given to the dairy. 

The principal timber is beech, maple, hickory, bass-wood, and 
hemlock. There are a few elms, but no oaks. 

At different periods since the erection of Susquehanna County, 
there has been more or less disquiet among the residents remote 
from the seat of justice, and those of Springville have been of the 
number. As early as 1839, the matter of annexing Springville 
and Auburn to portions of Luzerne and Bradford, to form a new 
county, with Skinner's Eddy for a county-seat, was openly agi- 
tated. Again, in 1842, it was only vigilance on the part of some, 
that prevented their loss to Susquehanna when Wyoming County 
was organized. To this day, there are those who contend that 
the township for half a mile within its southern border belongs, 
of right, to Wyoming, since the line dividing them, is the unrec- 
tified one of 1810-12. This should have been due east from 
Wyalusing Falls, and was so run by the surveyors going east; 
but the party from the east line of the county, on account of 
some variation understood by surveyors, failed to meet those 
from the west, being considerably south of them. The matter 
was finally compromised by making the line not " due east and 
west" as directed. This had so long been acquiesced in, and 
farms and town-arrangements were so well established in 1842, it 
was concluded best to make no changes. 

The first clearing in the township of Springville was made 
near the site of the Presbyterian church, by Captain Jeremiah 
Spencer, either in 1800 or the previous fall, when he and his 
sons put in six acres of wheat. He had come in with his brother 
Samuel, and they had surveyed a township six miles square, 
which Oliver Ashley, of Connecticut, had bought of the Connec- 
ticut company, or of the State, for a half-bushel of silver dollars, 
and to which he gave the name of Victory. An irregular 



408 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

township by this name appears on the map of Westmoreland. 
The southern line of Victory ran near Lynn P. O., and its whole 
area embraced much of what is now Springville, with a part of 
Auburn. The Spencers were originally from Claremont, New 
Hampshire, but had removed to Kenssellaer County, New York, 
some years previous to 1800. The family came in 1801. 

The wife of Captain S. was a sister of Judge Ashley. They 
had five daughters and two sons, Daniel and Francis. The latter 
was well educated for the times, and was the first postmaster in 
Springville (1815.) Daniel was commonly called "the hunter." 
Captain Spencer died in 1825, aged 75. 

Samuel Spencer bought 500 acres of land lying south and 
adjoining or near Victory ; and embracing what is now called 
Lymanville, with lands east and north of it. The whole tract he 
obtained from Colonel Jenkins, of Wyoming, for a horse and 
saddle ; but Spencer sold it, on his return to New Hampshire, to 
his brother-in-law, Gideon Lyman, of Wethersfield, Vermont, for 
$500. Of this, a part was paid down, and the rest, by agree- 
ment, was to be paid after Mr. L.'s occupation of the land. 

In 1801, Ezra Tuttle, of the same town, came in with a family 
of six children, of whom Abiathar, now living, was the oldest, 
then 13 years old. The following is a recent published note 
of him : — 

Abiathar Tuttle, who came in with his father, is now living in this town- 
ship. Last year (1868) he scored and hewed all the large timber for a grain 
barn, 26 by 18 feet, for Mr. H. K. Sherman ; laid out all the framework, Mr. 
Sherman assisting some in the framing and also in the covering ; Mr. Tuttle 
laying the lower floor in good common style. Ee is now about 81 years old. 
His health and faculties are good. He has been an acceptable member of 
the M. E. Church over 50 years; his life and general deportment an honor 
to himself and the church. 

Myron, son of Ezra Tuttle, was the first child born in the 
township. 

Mr. T. had bought his land under the Connecticut title, and 
paid to Ezekiel Hyde $800 for three hundred acres ; but he had 
afterwards to pay $500 for the same to secure a legal title from 
the Pennsylvania claimant, Henry Drinker. 

He drove in from Vermont two cows, one team of two horses, 
and another of one horse ; and settled near Captain Spencer. 
He built the first framed house in Springville ; and with his 
sons cleared about two hundred and fifty acres. He also con- 
structed a large part of the Wilkes-Barre turnpike. 

He had three sons and four daughters. His death occurred 
in 1826. 

Salmon Thomas came first in 1800, sowed wheat, and returned 
to New Hampshire; but came back in 1801. Samuel Thomas, 
his father, and family then accompanied him. Both took up one 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 409 

hundred acres of land just below A. Wakelee's present location, 
and lived together; Salmon then being single. In 1805 he 
married Rosalinda, daughter of Ezekiel Lathrop. Their sons 
were Reuben, Benjamin, Denison, Salrnon Davis, and Edwin. 

Samuel Thomas, Jr., came in later, and lived on "the Dr. 
Denison farm," near the north line of the township; but after- 
wards removed to Connecticut. 

In 1802, Myron Kasson, a native of Litchfield County, Con- 
necticut, came from Auburn (then Braintrim), and settled in the 
western part of what is now Springville, on the farm at present 
occupied by his son James. He had come alone, in 1799, to 
Auburn, and began clearing near the " Four Corners ;" but in 
1802 his improvements there were purchased by Chester Adams, 
or the two effected an exchange of farms, the latter never having 
brought his family to Springville. Mr. Kasson became one of 
the most prominent men of Springville, and "took an active 
part in giving coloring and tone to the organization of our 
county. He filled successively every post of honor in his town- 
ship, as long as age would permit, with credit to himself and 
with marked approval by his fellow townsmen." His death, late 
in 1859, was preceded three months by that of his wife. 

In March, 1803, Gideon Lyman, with his wife and eleven 
children, and accompanied by Captain Spencer (who had been 
East on a visit,) came to the farm since owned and long occupied 
by Justus Knapp, Esq. It was but a temporary halt while Mr. 
Lyman prepared a home on the land he had purchased of 
Samuel Spencer. 

Owing to his generosity while on the way hither, in relieving 
a friend pressed by a creditor, Mr. Lyman had only fifty 
cents in his pocket when he reached his destination. The house 
he occupied was built by felling basswood trees, splitting them 
open, and laying them up with the fiat side inward. It was 
probably 18 by 14 feet, and had to accommodate thirteen per- 
sons through the summer. The roof was made of white ash 
bark, but the floor was of the same material as the sides of the 
building. 

Two barrels of pork constituted the stock of provisions, and 
Mr. Lyman was obliged to go to Exeter, near Wilkes-Barre, 
and sell a horse to get grain for bread. This left him only one 
horse. He sold a bed to buy a cow. To crown his discourage- 
ment, he found he held a worthless title, and had eventually to 
buy of Mr. Drinker, recovering nothing of what he had paid in 
good faith to the claimant under the Connecticut title. But he 
had been a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and was not 
easily daunted. 

In the fall he went to the farm since known as the Lyman 
homestead, where he lived until his death in May, 1824. His 



410 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

first house was built about ten or twelve rods from one of the 
most bountiful springs in our county ; but this was so concealed 
by laurels that he had lived upon the place several years before 
it was discovered. Subsequently he built nearer it, and the house 
is now occupied by his grandson, James H. Lyman. The spring 
supplies him, and many of the neighbors, with an unfailing 
stream of pure cold water during protracted drouths. 

Gideon Lyman's children all lived to old age, and all but one 
were present at his funeral. His sons were, Elijah, Gideon, 
Joseph Arvin, Samuel, John, and Prentiss. Elijah is still living 
(September, 1869), in' Alleghany County, New York, aged 87. 
His sister, Dolly Oakley, 1 is 85. Gideon, a twin with the latter, 
died when 55 years old. Naomi Spencer died when 69 ; Samuel 
when 71 ; Joseph Arvin in his 62d year. The five others are 
living, the youngest being 71. 

Benjamin, Zophar, and Aaron Blakeslee came also in 1801. 
The last-named was but seventeen years old, and worked for his 
brothers who had families, until he was twenty-one, when he 
located next below where A. Tuttle now lives; and occupied the 
same farm until his death in 1859. " He was a consistent mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a generous con- 
tributor towards the erection or purchase of a good house in the 
village of Springville, where that society met for public worship. 
His house was ever an asylum for itinerant clergymen." 

Zophar Blakeslee's farm occupied "the Hollow" — now covered 
by the village of Springville; but, in 1829, he removed to the 
farm now occupied by his widow, near the line of Auburn. 

Benjamin Blakeslee's place has been occupied many years by 
Arad Wakelee (after F. Eaton and S. Pierpont). 

Reuben, brother of J. and S. Spencer, Daniel Brewster, and 
Aaron Avery came in soon after the elder Spencers ; but Reuben 
died in 1804, and Messrs. Avery and Brewster, thinking all must 
starve here, returned after two or three years to New York. But 
subsequently Mr. Avery came back, and died in Tunkhannock 
several years since. 

Frazier Eaton and family came in 1803, to the farm where 
Benjamin Blakeslee died ; but afterwards removed to the first 
location of the latter, an exchange of farms being effected. 

The next year, Thomas Cassedy, wife and two children, came 
from the State of New York, and settled below the Presbyterian 
church. 

The first marriage in the township was that of Abel Marcy of 
Tunkhannock, to Eunice Spencer, in 1804. 

Three families came in from Saratoga County, N. Y., March 
1st, 1806, numbering in all twelve persons. The names of the 

« Died August 25, 1870. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 411 

heads of the families were Pardon Fish, Ebenezer Fish, and John 
Bullock. Justus Knapp, then a boy, was of the company. All 
occupied the same house, which had accommodated Gideon Ly- 
man's family in the summer of 1803. During the following 
summer a house was built, affording some relief. 

Aaron Taylor, a native of Connecticut, who had settled on the 
river above Tunkhannock in 1796, came to this vicinity about 
1806. His farm was on the turnpike, near that of Stephen Lott 
(another old settler) though they were just below the line, after 
Susquehanna County was set off. A son of Mr. Taylor now oc- 
cupies his place. Aaron Taylor, Jr., and bis sister, Mrs. Zophar 
Blakeslee, live in the township near Auburn. 

In 1806, Augustine Wells Carrier came to the farm lately oc- 
cupied by Thos. Nicholson. 

About 1807, Jeremiah Eosencrants, and the same year or the 
next, Jonathan Strickland, from near the Delaware River, were 
added to the number of settlers. Mr. S. died in 1853, aged 80 ; 
his widow, in 1866, aged 94. 

One summer, among the earlier years of the Lynn settlement, 
there was a scarcity of bread. A crop of rye was growing, and 
as soon as it was full in the head it was cut in small quantities, 
and when dry, was taken out of the straw, cleaned, and set before 
what was called a Dutch fireplace, and kiln-dried ; it was then 
ground in a coffee-mill, the hopper of which would not hold more 
than a pint, then sifted and made into something called bread. 

Gideon Lyman one Sabbath morning, searching for his cow, 
found some raspberries ; anything so gratifying and exciting he 
did not think it right to tell his wife during holy time, and so 
waited until evening, when custom closed its observance. His 
wife was then unable to sleep for joy. In the morning, pails of 
berries were secured. 

A few years later Mrs. L. and a young woman set out with a 
lantern one evening, to go about a mile and a half to watch with 
a sick neighbor. Starting from a house where they had been 
visiting in the afternoon, they lost their way, and spent the night 
in the woods. A brisk snow storm added to the unpleasantness 
of the situation, but they made a fire, and as they had a hymn- 
book, they passed the time in singing hymns. In the morning 
they proceeded on their way and crossed a wolf's track in the 
snow, before they reached the small stream which they followed 
to their destination. 

The road from Col. Parke's to Springville Hollow was opened 
in 1803 or 1804 by the Spencers. Previous to that, only marked 
trees and a bridle path had guided the traveler to the Susque- 
hanna River at the mouth of the Meshoppen. In 1808 it was 
traveled by sleds, etc. 

To cross narrow streams, trees were often felled to serve as 



412 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

bridges. Many were the homely substitutes for former comforts 
in other things. Venison tallow served for candles, branches of 
hemlock for brooms, three-pegged stools for chairs, etc. 

Of the first adult settlers, or of those who came to Springville 
and near* vicinity prior to 1810, Reuben Spencer, Bbenezer 
Carrier, and Clarinda, first wife of Zophar Blakeslee, were dead 
at that date. The deaths of the others occurred thus : — 

From 1810-20, Alfred and Thomas Brownson, John Taylor, 
the first Mrs. Elijah Avery, James Rosencrants, Mrs. Timothy 
Mix, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Strickland, Sr., and Ebenezer Fish. 
Joel Hickcox came in 1814 and died 1817. His widow survived 
him nearly thirty years, and saw a descendant of the fifth gene- 
ration. 

From 1820-30, Gideon Lyman, Sr., J. Bullock's wife, Capt. J. 
Spencer, Ezra Tuttle, Samuel Thomas, Sr., and wife, and Aaron 
Taylor aged seventy-five. 

From 1830-40, Rhoda Fish, Keziah Lyman, Daniel Spencer, 
and Zophar Blakeslee. 

From 1840-50, Widow Ezra Tuttle, Mrs. Aaron Blakeslee, 
Jeremiah Rosencrants, Widow Aaron Taylor aged eighty, and 
Benjamin Blakeslee. 

From 1850-60, Pardon Fish, Sr., in his ninety-ninth year; 
Thomas Cassedy, Sr., aged seventy-five ; Widow Ebenezer Fish, 
Rosalinda L. Thomas, Aaron Blakeslee, Myron Kasson, and 
Widow Benjamin Blakeslee. 

From 1860-70, Widow Thomas Cassedy, Sr., aged eighty; Sal- 
mon Thomas aged eighty-seven; John Bullock, and Francis 
Spencer. 

The last-named died in Factoryville, Pa., January 1st, 1869. 
He had always resided in Springville until a short time before 
his death. 

To this list must now (1872) be added that of Justus Knapp, 
whose interest gained for the compiler most of the previous 
items. His death occurred December, 1870, just previous to 
which he had written the following: — 

" Justus Knapp was in his 7th year when he came to this place (Spring- 
ville) ; has lived here sixty-four years last March ; raised a family of nine 
children — five sons and four daughters — all of whom lived to grow up to 
adult years. The mother, three sons, and two daughters, died in the space 
of six years and two months; the last son was killed at Gettysburg, July 
2d, 1863. 

Justus Knapp never voted at any other election polls but Springville, 
having been a voter almost fifty years ; was elected justice of the peace in 
1846. He succeeded Myron Tuttle, who removed to the West." 

He furnished in 1870 the following list of early settlers, who 
are dead, additional to those given elsewhere : — 

Edward Goodwin, Benjamin Lull, Samuel Quick, James W. 
Hickcox, Charles Thomas, Joseph Cooper, Asahel B. Prichard, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 413 

Martin Park, Joseph A. Lyman, Samuel Lyman, Samuel Sutton, 
William B. Welsh, Eobert Smales, Archibald Sheldon, David 
Eogers, William Taylor, Thomas Lane, Isaac W. Palmer. 

When J. Knapp came in with the Lymans, there were but two 
log houses where Montrose now stands. He said : — ' 

" There was a log house near where the Widow Isbell now lives, occupied 
by Dr. James Cook ; the next house south was Roberts' ; the next what is 
called the Raynsford house ; the next Deacons Wells' and Deans' ; the next 
was where Friend Hollister now lives, near the north line of Dimock town- 
ship, that being the last place where we stayed over night till we arrived at 
our place of destination. 

" Near Dimock Corners Captain Joseph Chapman lived ; the next house 
was occupied by Martin Myers ; the next by Benjamin Blakeslee ; the next 
by Frazier Eaton ; the next by Samuel Thomas; the next by Ezra Tuttle ; 
the next by Captain Jeremiah Spencer." 

John Lyman, Abiathar Tuttle, of Springville, and Caleb and 
Pardon Fish, of Lynn, of the juvenile first settlers, still survive. 

In 1815, Titus Scott came from Waterbury, Connecticut, and 
made a small clearing on the top of the hill east of Springville 
Hollow. He brought his family May, 1816 ; and October, 1817, 
his brother Jesse came. At the time Titus Scott came in, Arad 
Wakelee was on the Barnum farm in Lawsville ; but in the 
fall of 1817 his name was among the signers to the charter of 
St. Jude's Church ; as were also the names of other settlers, the 
date of whose in-coming has not been ascertained. Mark Scott 
came to Springville about 1822. 

The first regular church services were held at Titus Scott's 
log house. 

The three brothers, Titus, Jesse, and Mark Scott, belonged to 
a remarkably long-lived family. Those not now living died at 
an average age of 72 years. Mark Scott died January, i860, aged 
77. Titus is 87, and Jesse in his 85th year. 

The first town officers for Springville were elected in 1814. 
They include residents of what was afterwards set off to 
Dimock. 

The first constable, Joseph Arvin Lyman ; supervisors, My- 
ron Kasson and Daniel Spencer; poormasters, Asa Lathrop and 
Frazier Eaton. 

In 1815, Thomas Parke, Ezra Tuttle, Francis Spencer, and 
Spencer Lathrop, are mentioned as "freeholders." In 1816, 
Francis Spencer was the first town clerk. 

Samuel Pierpont was here as early as 1817, and had a small 
store where Arad Wakelee lives. It is said that Francis Morris 
and brother had the'first stock of goods in the Hollow. 

About 1818 or 1819, Leonard Baldwin opened a house of 
entertainment or tavern in Springville. It was but a small 
building. This was enlarged and improved by his successor, 



414 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Spencer Hickcox who continued to keep a public house until his 
death. The same house, further enlarged and improved, is the 
present hotel of Dr. P. B. Brush. 

Elections, which had been held at Thomas Parke's, were held 
in 1818, at Salmon Thomas'. 

One who came to Springville from Eenssellaer County, New 
York, in 1819, fifty years later (after mentioning that the 
family were twelve days on their journey hither), makes the 
following remarks respecting the wonderful improvements in 
locomotion and other matters since that time : — 

In 1819, the steamboat was only in embryo, or helpless infancy. The 
locomotive engine and iron track were not known. Six-horse teams, carry- 
ing from four to six tons, were passing over the roads almost daily — goods 
coming up country being brought in the other way — an occasional Durham 
boat passing up the river, only excepted. This was the Northern Pennsyl- 
vania style. Other States could boast nothing better, unless we except the 
eight-horse wagons, with tire six inches wide, which were used on the " Great 
Western Turnpike" in the State of New York. At the date mentioned 
there was nothing in the shape of a canal boat; and no place for it if there 
had been. There were no cast-iron plows at that time ; all were made with 
the mould board of wood. Wagon tires made in just as many pieces as 
there were pieces of felloes in the wheels, were then going or gone out of 
use. " Wooden springs" were mostly used in the best style of carriages. 
The mowing, reaping, and threshing machines were unknown. Yes, and one 
of the great wonders of the age we live in, the sewing machine, also. In 
those days we knew nothing of the friction match, nor the most wonderful, 
although not the most useful, of all improvements named, the electric 
telegraph. 

Augustine Meacham and wife came from Claremont, New 
Hampshire, in 1818 or 1819, and resided here until both died in 
old age. 

William Drinker, agent of the Drinker Estate, and an older 
brother of Henry Drinker, of Montrose, located in Springville 
some time between the years 1817 and 1820. He built the 
house where Thomas Nicholson lived many years, Hon. Asa 
Packer being one of the workmen. He had previously been 
married to Eliza G. Eodman, of Philadelphia. Upon leaving 
Springville he came to reside in Montrose, and occupied the 
house built by Charles Catlin, the present residence of H. J. 
Webb, Esq. He lived for a time in Union, New York, and 
afterwards in the "Bowes Mansion" at Great Bend. He died at 
the West, about the year 1836. 

William Drinker, a bachelor uncle of William, the agent, 
came and resided with the latter in Springville. He had a fond- 
ness for literature, a good knowledge of conveyancing, and was 
a skilful draughtsman ; many of the maps of the Drinker 
Estate were prepared and drawn by him. He died while on a 
visit to Philadelphia in 1822. 

A friend of Judge Packer contributes the following: — 





£XeV^^- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 415 



HON. ASA PACKER. 

Asa Packer, son of Elisha Packer, of Groton, New London County, Con- 
necticut, was born in that town on the twenty-ninth day of December, 1805. 
As soon as he was old enough to do for himself, a situation was procured 
for him in the tannery of Mr. Elias Smith, of North Stonington. He soon 
won the confidence and affection of his employer, but for whose death he 
would, no doubt, have become a partner in the establishment. He spent the 
following year in Groton. 

Although his opportunities for attending school were limited, he early 
learned the value of an education, and applied himself with diligence to the 
acquisition of the rudiments, and afterwards attained considerable proficiency 
in those branches which promised to be of the greatest practical advantage 
to him. 

In the year 1822, when but seventeen years of age, he set out on foot, with 
a few dollars in his pocket and his worldly goods comprised in a knapsack, 
for Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Here he apprenticed himself to the 
trade of carpenter and joiner in Hopbottom, now Brooklyn. He wrought 
assiduously, and in due time became master of his business. While so en- 
gaged, he went with his employer to Springville, to build the mansion of the 
late William Drinker, Esq., on the place recently occupied by Thomas Nich- 
olson, Esq., and since purchased by Mr. Packer himself. It was during the 
erection of this dwelling, that he became acquainted with that highly esteemed 
gentleman, Henry Drinker, Esq. An intimacy grew up between them which 
continued amidst mutual affection of great warmth until the death of Mr. 
Drinker in the year 1868. 

It was here also that he first met the daughter of Mr. Zophar Blakeslee, 
Sarah Minerva, who afterwards became his wife, and as such has always 
proved herself to be all that a wife and mother should be, acquiring and re- 
taining the respect and love of all who have had the happiness of being 
numbered amongst her friends. 

Through these early years he remained poor, but fortune was soon to smile 
upon him. He heard of the Lehigh Valley as affording greater remunera- 
tion for labor, and superior opportunities for advancement. He was induced 
therefore to remove thither, and in the spring of 1833 located at Mauch 
Chunk. He brought to his new home but a few hundred dollars, his capital 
consisting rather of his active mind, strong arms, and industrious habits. 
His first and second summers were spent in boating coal from Mauch Chunk 
to Philadelphia, himself acting as master of his own boat. The energy and 
capacity which he displayed while thus employed, commended him to the 
favorable notice of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, with whom he 
afterwards formed a profitable connection which lasted a number of years. 

During a visit which he made at this period, to Mystic, Conn., he gave to 
his brother Robert (then living with their uncle Daniel at Packersville, 
Windham County) such a favorable description of the coal region, that he 
also concluded to take up his abode there and join Asa in the business of 
boating at Mauch Chunk. Subsequently, they formed a co-partnership under 
the style of A. & R. W. Packer, whose operations before long became quite 
extensive, embracing as they did, a large mercantile business at Mauch 
Chunk and elsewhere ; contracts with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- 
pany, which involved the building of dams and locks on the upper naviga- 
tion ; working coal mines leased from the company, and afterwards Mr. 
Packer's own mines near Hazelton, and shipping coal to Philadelphia and 
New York. A similar shipping business was done by them on the Schuyl- 
kill. They were the first through transporters of coal to the New York 
market, and it is a fitting return for all his original enterprise in this direc- 
tion, that Judge Packer's large income now is chiefly derived from this source. 
Through his coal-mining operations, he was brought into close relations with 



416 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the late Commodore Stockton, and between them there sprung up a warm 
personal friendship, which proved of considerable value in assisting Judge 
Packer to complete the great enterprise of his life, the Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road. Up to October, 1851, this undertaking was looked upon with but little 
public favor, and accordingly was prosecuted with but little vigor. At this 
date Judge Packer purchased nearly all the stock already subscribed, and 
commenced to obtain additional subscriptions. Late in 1852, he submitted a 
proposition, which was duly accepted, for the construction of the road from 
Mauch Chunk to Easton, and immediately took steps for the early perform- 
ance of the contract. The road was opened for business in September, 1855, 
having connection with both New York and Philadelphia. (The expendi- 
tures for the first three months of its business were $23,763.33, the receipts 
being $26,517.95.) By the merger of the Beaver Meadow, Mahonoy, and 
Hazelton Railroad Companies, and by valuable connections elsewhere, the 
business facilities of the company had been already largely increased. Judge 
Packer now proposed that the road should be extended through the valleys 
of the Lehigh and Susquehanna to the New York State line, there to connect 
with the Erie and other projected railways, thus affording a direct route from 
the lakes to the seaboard. This has been accomplished by the construction 
of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad, having its terminus 
at Waverly. It has already been the means of developing to a wonderful ex- 
tent a country of prolific resources, and conferring untold benefits upon the 
immense population with which it is teeming, and who have been largely in- 
duced to take up their residence on its route by the conveniences it has 
afforded for utilizing the great wealth, mineral and agricultural, abounding 
in the regions which it traverses and connects. In this respect, Judge 
Packer deserves a high place among the benefactors of the commonwealth, 
and in the grand results of his undertakings he furnishes a noble example of 
what may be accomplished by well-directed energy and business integrity. 

It may be interesting to append a statement of the operations of the rail- 
road from Easton to Waverly for the year ending November 3d, 1871, in- 
cluding those of its several branches : — 

Total coal tonnage 3,606,530 tons, besides a very large and increasing gen- 
eral freight and passenger business. The total receipts from all sources 
were $6,571,159.36. For a number of years it has regularly paid an annual 
dividend often per cent, upon its stock, which now amounts to nearly twenty 
millions of dollars. 

The attention of Judge Packer has not been directed solely in the channels 
of business. He has always taken a deep interest in all questions affecting 
the public welfare. Conscious of this, and of his ability to contribute to the 
general good, he was elected for several years a member of the State Legis- 
lature. Retiring from that, he was appointed one of the judges of the county 
court, a position which he held with honor five years. He was afterwards 
chosen for two consecutive terms a member of the lower house of Congress, 
in which capacity he rendered valuable service to his constituents. 

In 1868 he was a prominent candidate for the Presidency, and in the Na- 
tional Democratic Convention at New York received the unanimous support 
of Pennsylvania, and several votes from other States. In 1869 he was the 
Democratic nominee for Governor in Pennsylvania, his opponent being 
elected by a small majority. 

On his return from a trip to Europe in 1865, he announced his intention 
of founding an educational institution where young men should be supplied 
with the means of obtaining that knowledge which should be of the most 
practical advantage to them. The branches to which he designed particular 
attention should be given, were civil, mechanical, and mining engineering ; 
general and analytical chemistry, mineralogy and metallurgy; analysis of 
soils and agriculture; architecture and construction. Having reference to the 
peculiar advantages for such an education in the neighborhood, he presented 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 417 

as a site for the buildings a beautiful woodland park of sixty acres on the 
borders of South Bethlehem. To this he added a donation of $500,000 in 
money, beside which he has annually made other large gifts in cash for the 
current expenses of the Lehigh University, the name by which the institu- 
tion is called. The main building, Packer Hall, has no superior of its kind 
in the country. The means of instruction are ample, and are offered gratui- 
tously to all who may desire to avail themselves of them. 

In addition to his munificent donations to this cause, Judge Packer has con- 
tributed very largely to the building and maintenance of churches in Mauch 
Chunk and in many other places, and has been a liberal friend to numerous 
benevolent and charitable enterprises all over the country. At the present 
time he is advancing the material interests of Susquehanna County in the 
indispensable aid he has given in the building of the Montrose Railroad. In 
the welfare of this section he has always taken special pride, and his relations 
with his old friends of the neighborhood remain of the most pleasant and affec- 
tionate character. By frequent visits there, and by receiving visits from 
them in his most hospitable and beautiful home at Mauch Chunk, and above 
all by his unaffected modesty and simplicity of habits and manners, he has 
given them ample evidence of the value he sets upon old associations, and of 
that true manliness of character which is neither unduly depressed by ad- 
versity nor puffed up by prosperity. 

In 1822, fra. Frink, of Springville, aged 83, walked 200 miles 
within eight days, not on a wager, but simply because no other 
opportunity offered to enable him to pay a visit to his daughter. 

In 1824, John J. Whitcomb was a tanner and currier in Spring- 
ville. 

In 1826, F. A. & E. Burrows opened a store on the corner west 
of A. Beardsley. They were succeeded in 1830 by Noble & Day. 
F. A. Burrows removed to Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 1844. 

In 1828, a rifle company was formed in Springville. During 
the winter of 1827-28, Albert Beardsley taught school in the 
building then used for a church. For ladies, dresses of dark 
blue calico, with light blue spots, the usual pattern, were then 
thought sufficiently good to wear to meeting. 

In 1828, Dr. Miner Kelly was appointed justice of the peace 
for Springville. Either in that year, or the one following, Dr. 
Jethro Hatch, from Connecticut, settled in the place. Previous 
to their coming, Dr. Jackson, of Tunkhannock, was the physician 
for all this region. About 1835, Dr. Wm. Wells Pride, bought 
out Dr. Hatch, and remained nearly 25 years. Upon giving up 
the practice of his profession, he removed to Middletown, Conn., 
where he passed the evening of his days with his daughter, Mrs. 
Rev. Dr. J. Taylor. One cannot correctly estimate the value to 
the community of two such Christian lives as those of Dr. and 
Mrs. Pride. Both had gone in their early prime as missionaries 
of the A. B. C. F. M. (1819-1826) to the Choctaws in Mississippi ; 
the former from Cambridge, N. Y., and the latter as Miss Han- 
nah Thacher from Harford, Susquehanna County. Two of their 
children were born at the South. On account of the doctor's 
failing health, the family were obliged to come to the North, the 
27 



418 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

parents most regretfully leaving the work to which they had 
hoped to give the remainder of their days. 

Dr. Pride had been established in Gibson a short time before 
coming to Springville. In the latter place he was a ruling elder 
in the Presbyterian church, and an active anti-slavery advocate. 

Mrs. P. died at Middletown, Conn., Aug. 8, 1861, aged 63 ; 
Dr. Pride, March 24, 1865, aged 69. His house in Springville 
is now owned and occupied by Thomas Nicholson, Esq. 

Dr. Israel B. Lathrop has been for many years a practicing 
physician in Springville. 

In 1829, Spencer Hickcox had a small store on the site of the 
present hotel. 

' Hazard's Register' contained a notice of Daniel Spencer's 
wonderful pound of gunpowder, entitled, " Susquelianna County 
against the world/" "In the early settlement of this county, Mr. 
Spencer, of Springville township, killed, with one pound of powder, 
60 deer, 9 bears, 3 foxes, 1 wolf, 3 owls, and a number of part- 
ridges and quails. Mr. Spencer has killed upwards of 1500 deer 
since he came to reside in this county." 

The following is the testimony of one of his former neighbors : 
" He was out one day in the fall of the year, when the bucks fre- 
quently get into a family quarrel, as in this case. He found two 
lusty bucks that had been fighting, and in the battle their horns, 
being long and prongy, became locked together so firmly that 
they could not be separated b} r any effort they could make, and 
one of them died either in the battle or by starvation, and the 
other had dragged his dead comrade around until he was just 
alive and had become a mere skeleton." 1 

In 1830, A. Beardsley was appointed justice of the peace. J. 
Knapp, Orin Fish, E. M. Phillips, Miles Prichard, and A. G. 
Stillwell have been later justices. 

Lynn is a flourishing little village, situated in the south part of 
the township of Springville, twelve miles from Montrose, and 
nine from Tunkhannock. The first post-office was established 
in 1836, John Cassedy, Esq., P. M. It has one mercantile estab- 
lishment, a carriage shop, a shop for ironing carriages, one for 
repairing clocks, watches, etc., a blacksmith shop, a milliner's, 
shoe, cabinet, and harness shops, and a mitten factory. It has 
also a new school-house, a physician, and a Good Templars' or- 
ganization. 

A cheese factory has been established by Hon. Asa Packer in 
the vicinity. 

Niven is the name of a post-office in the southeastern part of 
the township at " X Roads." 

1 A similar case is reported by F. B. Chandler, of Montrose, in which he had 
the fortune to secure the living buck, and the horns of both ; the latter now 
ornament his hall. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 419 

Patents have been issued to D. G. Dugan for an improved bed- 
stead, and to Dr. J. Owen for an animal trap. [It is probable 
there have been inventions of greater value, which have not 
reached the knowledge of the compiler.] 

The township is considered healthy, but within a few years it 
has been visited by the scourge, diphtheria. Six deaths occurred 
in one family,, that of Edward S. Coggswell, within twenty-one 
days. 

In the fall of 1843 or '44, Wm. Belcher proposed teaching a 
select school in Lyman settlement, providing he could get a room. 
John and Joseph A. Lyman built a small house on the old home- 
stead, near the Junction, or corners of five roads, where the school 
waskept for several years, and which became known as theLyman- 
ville Select School, giving name to Lymanville, as it has been 
called ever since, though there is no village. The M. E. church 
parsonage and school-house is all there is to distinguish it from 
other farming communities. 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL. 

St. Jude's Church. — Some time previous to 1815, several 
families from Waterbury and its vicinity, in Connecticut, re- 
moved to and settled in Springville. Being mostly Episcopa- 
lians, they established a stated Sabbath meeting, some one read- 
ing the service from the Prayer-Book, and a sermon from some 
published volume. 

They were visited by the Eev. George Boyd, of Philadelphia, 
during whose stay a church was organized, a vestry elected, and 
application made for a charter of incorporation. The charter 
was granted by the Governor 7th October, 1817, and Joel Hick- 
cox, Amos Bronson, Thomas Parke, John Camp, Titus Scott, 
Randall Hickcox, Benjamin Welton, Spencer Hickcox, John 
Bronson, and Leonard Baldwin, were appointed the first vestrj^. 

The Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsyl- 
vania, sent the Rev. Manning B. Roche, who alternated for some 
months between Springville and Pike, occasionally preaching in 
other places. 

About 1825, the Rev. Samuel Marks was sent to Springville, 
where he resided several years, officiating occasionally through- 
out the county. He was a man of popular manners, made many 
friends and did much good. 

In 1829, a difficulty in relation to the election of the vestry 
occurred, which not having been settled in May, 1832, a new 
charter was applied for and obtained under the name of "St. 
Andrew's Church " (consecrated October 21, 1834). 

The first vestry-men were: Thomas Cassidy, Arad Wakelee, 



420 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Myron Kasson, A.B. Pritchard, 1 Philonus Beardsley, Asa Packer, 
and Amos Williams. 

The Rev. Samuel Marks continued to officiate alternately in 
Springville and Montrose. After a time he removed to Carbon- 
dale, and was succeeded in Springville by the Rev. Willie Peck, 
who remained nearly two years. His successor, December, 1835, 
was the Rev. Freeman Lane, who officiated in Springville and in 
Pike, Bradford County. In 1836, he taught a select school in 
Springville. He remained in the parish till 1842, when he re- 
signed, and the Rev. Richard Smith took charge, and held ser- 
vice at Springville two-thirds of the time, and one-third at 
Montrose. 

In May, 1836, Rev. John Long was invited to take charge of 
the parishes of Springville, Montrose, and New Milford, giving 
one-third to each. He also organized a parish at Tunkhannock, 
and a charter was obtained. About this time a parsonage 
was purchased for Springville, with nearly an acre of ground 
attached. 

In September, 1848, the Rev. H. H. Bean succeeded Mr. Long, 
giving the whole of his services to the parish and adjoining 
neighborhood, officiating frequently at Tunkhannock. He re- 
mained two years and preached very acceptably. Mr. Bean was 
succeeded by the Rev. G. M. Skinner, and after a service of some 
two years the Rev. J. G. Furey took his place, and remained 
seven years. His successor, Rev. W. S. Heaton, officiated about 
five years, and then took charge of Pike and the country adjoin- 
ing. The Rev. W. Kennedy has now charge of the parish. It 
has a neat and convenient church building, with organ, and some 
fifty communicants. 

List of Presiding Elders in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
{organized 1810). 

Of (formerly) Oneida Conference, Wyal using District, and Bridge- 
water Circuit ; at present, Wyoming Conference, Susquehanna 
District, Springville Circuit. 

Early, Silas Comfort ; 1812, George Harmon ; 1815, Marma- 
duke Pearce ; 1819, George Lane. 

From 1830 to 1870, Horace Agard, Fitch Read, George Lane 
(2d time), John M. Snyder, David Holmes, Jr., William Ready, 
D. A. Shepherd, George Peck, George Landon, George H. 
Blakeslee, Henry Brownscombe, and D. C. Olmstead. 

1 Died December, 1868, aged 77. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 421 

List of Traveling Preachers — same Territory. 

Prior to 1830, Thomas Wright, Joshua Dawson, Caleb Ken- 
dall, Joshua Eogers, Mark Preston, "William Lull, and Philetus 
Parkiss. 

From 1830 to 1845, Joseph Towner, C. W. Harris, George 
Evans, C. W. Giddings, M. K. Oushman, Benjamin Ellis, T. 
Davy, S. B. Yarington, L. S. Bennett, Erastus Smith, John and 
Samuel Griffin, E. B. Tenny, C. T. Stanley, A. Benjamin, K. 
Elwell, T. Wilcox, William Varcoe, William Eound, William 
Ready, H. Brownscombe, J. W. Davidson, E. A. Young, J. 0. 
Boswell, William Silsbee. 

From 1846 to 1870, Ira Wilcox, Welcome Smith, Joseph 
Whitham, T. D. Walker, John Mulky, O. F. Morse, F. Spencer, 
Marcus Carrier, Charles L. Rice, E. F. Roberts, Luther Peck, F. 
S. Chubbuck, Z. S. Kellogg, A. P. Aiken, Ira D. Warren, J. V. 
Newell, Ira T. Walker, E. W. Breckenridge, Charles Pearce, C. 
W. Todd, A. F. Harding, Stephen Elwell, D. Worrell, John F. 
Wilbur, and Joshua S. Lewis. 

The Methodist Society worshipped in the school house oppo- 
site Esquire Beardsley's after 1860. They have now a neat 
edifice on the main street. The first school house was of logs, 
" rolled up," near where Ezra Tuttle lived. 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

This society was organized about 1819, by Rev. Mr. Conger ; 
but there was no church edifice untill 1836, and this was not 
dedicated until Feb. 9th, 1837. The ministers have been : — 

Rev. Sylvester Cooke, 1836, or earlier ; Rev. Archibald B. 
Sloat; Rev. B. Baldwin; Rev. James W. Raynor. Deacon H. 
G. Ely is probably the only officer remaining. 

The church is located near Lynn, two miles below Spring- 
ville Hollow. Service at present (1869) only once in two 
weeks ; no stated pastor. 

The ladies of the church bought the parsonage, and paid part 
of the debt on the church. The avails of the sale of the former 
are still in possession of the church. 



422 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

APOLACON. 

Under date of November 27, 1846, the court erected a new 
township from the western part of Choconut, and ordered "that 
it be called Apolacon." The line between Choconut and Apola- 
con then crossed four roads besides the turnpike. 

The new township being four and a half miles in width, by 
six miles north and south, left to Choconut less than half its 
original dimensions. Like the latter, it took its name from the 
stream which is the principal drain of the township. At the 
time the State line was run across it this stream was called the 
AppelacuncJc, which is said to signify " From whence the messenger 
returned." The name has been variously written, and at pre- 
sent the town at the mouth of the stream, in New York State, is 
called Apalachin, while the name of the township in Susque- 
hanna County, and of the stream itself, is written as ordered by 
the court The sources of the Apolacon and Wyal using Creeks, 
in the township, are within two rods of each other. Another 
source of the latter is in Lake YVyalusing. The small lake 
which nearly touches the Bradford County line — the western 
boundary of the township — is one of the sources of the Wappa- 
sening, which runs northwesterly and joins the main stream in 
Bradford County. 

Briar Hill is one of the most marked elevations near the 
creek. 

Bear Swamp, not far from the head of the creek, is one of 
several marshes, almost amounting to lakes, within the bounda- 
ries of Apolacon. 

This northwest corner of the county is traversed by the same 
turnpike as that of the southeast corner, and has some features 
very similar; the lakes, the diagonal stream and valley, and 
symmetrical "Hills," while its "Meadows" have one counter- 
part at least in Decker's Flat/in Clifford. The latier is not more 
inviting to the tourist than the former, unless seen from a high 
elevation. 

A large marsh on the Apolacon, just west of Briar Hill, was 
known in early times as Big Meadow. 

Little Meadows, a locality so named very early to distinguish 
it from the marsh mentioned above, is two and a half miles 
lower on the Apolacon Creek, across which, at this point, the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 423 

beavers once built a dam ; and thus cut off much of the timber 
before it was visited by the ax. The borough is on this tract. 

It was here the first settlement was made within the bounds of 
the township, or even of old Choconut from which Apolacon was 
taken. 

Relics of Indians were found near where the beavers built 
their dam. Arrow-heads of various sizes, made of flint-stone, 
were found in considerable quantities ; also, stones of exquisite 
workmanship, the use of which is not known. One was shown 
to some Indians a few years ago, but they could not tell cer- 
tainly its use, but suggested that it might have been used on 
their war-clubs. The stone itself was peculiar — of a kind not 
found in this section of country. One end was worked to a 
very fine edge, and flat ; the other was round, and very nicely 
polished. These stones were of various sizes, ranging from 
three to six inches in length, and from two to three inches wide 
on the edge. A few pieces of pottery, made apparently of 
coarse sand, were also found in the vicinity; generally five or 
six inches under ground. 

In cutting down maple trees, the early settlers discovered indi- 
cations of their having been tapped many times in former years. 
Evidently the locality had been a resort of the Indians in the 
spring for making sugar; and in the winter for killing beaver. 

This section was once included within the limits of old Tioga 
township, Luzerne County; as may be seen by the first assess- 
ment roll, 1796, where Francis Johnston is taxed for "lands on 
Appalacunck Creek, joining the boundary line." In 1799, un- 
seated lands of Tioga are mentioned as lying " on the Choconut 
and Appalacunck." 

The first white man who settled in Apolacon was David Barney, 
a native of New Hampshire; which State he left in 1784, reach- 
ing Vestal, Broome County, N. Y., in 1785. From this place he 
came, in 1800, to Little Meadows, where for at least four years 
he was the only settler west of Snake Creek, above Forest Lake. 
The hotel of H. Barney and the house of D. Barney are on his 
farm. He bought of Tench Francis, a large landholder, and 
received his deed from his widow Anne. 

Though Indians as well as beavers had disappeared from this 
locality before he came, yet two Indians, named Nicholas and 
Seth, lingered on the creek about six miles below, near the Sus- 
quehanna River. Nicholas sometimes came up to hunt in the 
winter, with Mr. Barney, whose son Harry tells the following 
of him and his squaw : — 

" It was the rule or law among the Indians, that if an Indian married a 
second squaw, the children of the latter inherited all his property. Nicholas 
moved from the river about the time my father settled here, to the home of 
the Oneidas. Not long after, his squaw, finding she must die soon from con- 



424 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

sumption, poisoned him to death, that her children might inherit his property. 
Thus ended the life of the last Indian known to have inhabited this part of 
the country." 

In 1801, what is now Apolacon was included in that part of 
Tioga township then set off to Eush. 

In this year Darius, eldest son of David Barney, was born. 
Within the next seven years, three daughters were born, and in 
1809 and 1811, two sons, Jonathan and Harry ; two more daugh- 
ters and David, Jr., constituted the family. Mrs. Eichard Collins 
of Apolacon, Mrs. Jotham Eounds, of Vestal, N. Y., and Mrs. 
Levi Jones, of Owego, N. Y., are his daughters. David B. died 
March 27th, 1852, in his 77th year ; his wife, February 20th, 
1843, in her 62d year. 

The next settler within the limits of the borough of Little 
Meadows, was a soldier of the Eevolution, Eeuben Beebe, from 
Dutchess County, N. Y. 

A year or two earlier, about 1805, Joseph Beebe, his son, had 
settled on the creek, above Bear Swamp. 

Soon after, Calvin Drake, John Brown, John Smith, Benjamin 
and Eobert Buffum, Charles Nichols, and others, also settled 
along the creek. Joel, son of Eeuben Beebe, Belden Eead, 
Benaiah Barney, brother of David, Lewis and William Barton, 
and John Anderson, were at Little Meadows previous to 1813. 
The last named occupied the place afterwards owned by James 
House. Lewis Barton was a native of Dutchess County, N; Y. 
He died November, 1852, aged 71. Mrs. Almira B. died in 1868, 
having lived in Apolacon fifty-six years. 

The first death in Little Meadows was that of Xenia, wife of 
Eeuben Beebe, in 1807. 

The first school was taught by Eunice Beardslee, the same 
year. Her marriage, October 19th, 1809, to Joseph Beebe, was 
the first in the township. 

Schools were kept in such vacant rooms as could be found, 
until a house was built for the purpose a little north of the pres- 
ent school-house in Little Meadows. This was the only one 
within the limits of Apolacon for a number of years, and most 
of the scholars had far to go, as the inhabitants were few and 
scattered. 

From 1801 to 1813, the township was a part of Eush, which in 
the latter year was divided into three parts; the northern being 
Choconut, of which Apolacon is the western section. While its 
inhabitants belonged in Choconut, nearly half the town officers 
were from Apolacon ; and it is difficult to associate the early set- 
tlers with the present township, since they passed away previous 
to its erection. 

In 1814, Asahel Graves, Sen., and Caleb Brainerd came, and 
in 1815, Winthrop Collins, Sen., John Clifford, and David Pul- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 425 

cipher. At this time Asahel Graves was taxed "in the room of 
Calvin Drake who is gone to York State." Caleb Brainerd died 
in 1849. 

In 1816, David Currier, John Fessenden, Sen., Noah and Wil- 
liam Houghton, Hugh Whitaker, and James House came. 
Abraham Whitaker's lands lay partly in the township, but his 
buildings were in Bradford County. Hugh W. afterwards built 
a house over the line, where he lived until his death. 

This year witnessed much suffering here, from scarcity of pro- 
visions ; David Barney's trusty rifle relieved many, by furnish- 
ing them with game. The inhabitants frequently came to him, 
having nothing to eat, and offering to work on his farm while 
he hunted venison, and thus kept them from starvation. 

The nearest grist-mill was at Ithaca — a distance of forty-three 
miles. Many devices were resorted to to supply a substitute ; the 
most successful of which was a mortar for pounding corn for 
samp. This was made by cutting down a large hard- wood tree and 
burning a hole in the top of the stump. The pestle or pounder 
was made of a hard- wood sapling six or seven inches in diameter, 
and four or five feet long, with a stick run through for handles. 
This attached to a spring-pole completed the mill. Samp formed 
a large portion of the food of most of the inhabitants ; it was the 
staff of life, and must be eaten ; a change of diet could not be 
obtained. 

In 1817, John Ayer, Abiel Bailey, Moses Buffum, David Heald, 
(Edward and Alfred Heald were not taxed until two years later), 
Stephen I. Jewitt, Nathaniel and Silas Balcom, were new comers. 
Moses B. removed to Bradford County in 1824. He was taxed 
while here for "one negro slave." 

Oliver Merrill was a taxable of 1819, he afterwards moved in, 
but left the town in less than ten years. 

The trades were well represented by the early settlers. Asahel 
Graves, Sen. and Jr., and Noah Houghton were blacksmiths ; 
Abel Merrill and Josiah Glines, shoemakers. Benaiah Barney 
erected the first grist-mill, in 1811 ; in 1816 David Barney and 
Belden Read ran a saw-mill. The latter removed in 1821. 

Benaiah Barney removed to Indiana, where he died. 

The first thoroughly educated man who settled in Apolacon was Samuel 
Milligan. In 1820, he was taxed for 3000 acres. He was born in Phila- 
delphia, April 18th, 1789 ; graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, at 
the age of seventeen ; studied law in compliance with the wishes of his family, 
and practiced at the Philadelphia Bar, acting for some years as the attorney 
for the Bingham Estate. He was persuaded to buy lands in Susquehanna 
County; thus relinquishing the law, which was never the profession of his 
choice. He bought a large tract in the then township of Choconut, and 
entered largely into farming. 

He moved to Ellerslie in the summer of 1821, and became heartily devoted 
to the interests of his new home. Ellerslie was on a ridge dividing the town- 
ships of Choconut and Apolacon, when the latter was erected. The house 



426 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

was built in the English style, with arched windows, and occupied consider- 
able ground; it has since been divided, and a part moved away. 

Mr. M. was appointed justice of the peace (of Choconut inclusive of Apol- 
acon) at the earnest solicitation of his neighbors, and afterwards town-clerk ; 
which latter office he held again and again to the great accommodation of 
the township. 

In 1830, Ellerslie post-office was established, S. Milligan, postmaster; and 
although it paid expenses, his own mail was often all the bag contained. 

He was an ardent Whig, and by his personal influence, and writings, he 
contributed much to the cause, particularly in the fall of 1832, when by his 
writings he was said to have caused a great change in sentiment throughout 
the county. Although all his life interested in politics, he never wished to 
enter into the excitement of political life or to accept office save in the ser- 
vice of the county for whose benefit he labored. 

In 1832, he actively advocated the construction of a railroad to connect 
Owego with the Lackawanna coal-field by the way of Apolacon Creek, etc. 
[See Roads.] 

In 1842, Mr. Milligan was again urged to accept a nomination as justice of 
the peace, which he repeatedly refused, but finally accepted on the grounds, 
as his friends insisted, that no other Whig could gain the election (the town- 
ship being Democratic), and he was elected. He was a man of strict integ- 
rity, of fine talents, and extensive reading. He was one of the first promoters 
and directors of public schools ; and so earnest was he that all should be 
benefited, that when, by his entreaties, he failed to get the consent of the 
people to send their children to school, he appealed to their priest to require 
it of them. His zeal was equally great for good roads throughout the town- 
ship. At one time, losing all patience on account of a bad piece of road near 
his house, he requested his friends to make him supervisor, which they did, 
and thus the roads were put in order. 

He was largely instrumental in building the Presbyterian church at 
Friendsville, of which he was an elder and trustee. 

In 1847, at the earnest wish of his family to return to the old homestead, 
he removed to Phcenixville, Chester County. In the latter place he was 
again active in building a Presbyterian church, in which he served as elder 
and trustee until his death, April 24th, 1854. 

The first town clerk of old Choconut was Alfred Heald, in 
1821. His farm was on the turnpike between Friendsville and 
the Apolacon Creek ; he died December, 1835, aged 41 years. 
This road was so excessively hilly as first constructed, that the 
court appointed B. T. Case, Esq., and others to review it, 
which was done ; but it is difficult to conceive of its ever having 
been any more hilly than it is at present. 

In the Annals of Middletown reference is made to the incom- 
ing of Silas Beardslee. After his death Mrs. Bearsdlee came, 
with her son Silas, to Apolacon about 1822. Our present mem- 
ber of the State Legislature, E. B. Beardslee, is their son. 

In 1824, O. B. Haight settled upon the farm vacated the same 
year by Moses Buffum. 

A swamp in the northeast corner of Apolacon takes its name 
from one Hugh Bois, who in 1825 built a shanty there, stayed 
a few months, cleared a small place, and left. [Incorrectly 
marked Hubois Swamp on county map.] 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 427 

Winthrop Collins, Jr., removed about 1826. His father, Win- 
throp, Sr., remained in the township until his death in 1828. 

Tins year Caleb Carmalt purchased of Dr. R. H. Rose one- 
half of his original estate in Susquehanna County, and, by the 
division, nearly all the then unseated land in what is now Apola- 
con, additional to lands in other townships. [See Choconut.] 

The first Irish settlers of Apolacon were Edmond and Pat- 
rick O'Shoughnessy, in 1831. 

Prior to this time a number of the sons of the first settlers had 
become of age. Among these was William House, a son of 
James and father of William A., at present a member of the 
New Jersey Assembly. The ' State Sentinel,' of Trenton, New 
Jersey, in a series of " Legislative Daguerreotypes," represents 
William A. House as one of the finest in the group. 

James House had three sons, Ezekiel, William, and Royal E. 
The youngest, who was but six months' old when his father 
came from Vermont, is known as the inventor of the " Printing- 
Telegraph." He was accustomed to experiment in childhood. 
Once having caught a toad, he skinned it, placed a set of springs 
in the skin, and made it hop. 

His residence for many years was near Binghamton, high up 
the side of " House's Hill." 

When the township of Apolacon was erected, more than forty 
years after its settlement, there remained upon the tax-list an 
unusually large proportion of the names of the early families : 
Barney, Beebe, Barton, Brainerd, Buffum, Beardslee, Collins, 
Clifford, Currier, Fessenden, Graves, Heald, Houghton, House, 
and others. 

A large number of Irishmen were here. 

Evan Evans and John Jones, Welshmen, connected with the 
settlement extending hither from Middletowu, and the eastern 
border of Bradford County, had settled not far from the latter, 
west of Lake Wyalusing. This lake rests on the top of a high 
hill on land belonging to the heirs of Samuel F. Carmalt, whose 
residence was near it many years later. The early death of this 
gentleman, the eldest son of Caleb Carmalt, of Choconut, was 
felt as a serious loss to the township. He was President of the 
County Agricultural Society. 

There are fine orchards in this neighborhood, and the land 
lies handsomely. There are also good dairy farms, and the 
vicinity produces excellent fruit. 

O. B. Haight, having a dairy of eight cows, made and sold 
1318 pounds of butter in the season of 1868, besides having on 
hand sufficient for the winter's use. The milk and butter for 
the use of the family, for the season, was also taken from the 
general product. 

In November, 1869, Patrick Harding raised an apple of the 



428 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

variety known as ox-heart, which measured 14§ inches in cir- 
cumference, and weighed one pound and seven ounces. 

Upon the incorporation of the Borough of Friendsville, Apola- 
con parted with a small portion of territory on the southeast 
corner. 

November, 1856, the court was petitioned to order the erection 
of the Borough of Little Meadows, If miles square. Its decision in 
favor of the petitioners was reversed by the Supreme Court the fol- 
lowing year ; but in August, 1859, the petition was again made, 
with an alteration in the dimensions, and was granted January, 
1860. The Supreme Court twice reversed the decision. The 
final decree was made when the Governor signed an Act of the 
Legislature for that purpose, March 27th, 1862. 

The northern line of the borough is the State line, If miles ; 
the east line is 400 rods, and the west, on the Bradford County 
line, is 430 rods. 

The borough is pleasantly situated on the Apolacon, and is 
easy of access. Hopes are entertained of a railroad to connect it 
with the Lehigh Valley Eoad at Skinner's Eddy, and with the 
Erie Railroad. Campville station on the latter, seven miles dis- 
tant, is now the nearest station. A daily mail, two stores, a saw- 
mill, grist, lath, and planing-mills, two blacksmith shops, wagon, 
harness, shoemaker, and cooper shops, give life and animation 
to business. There are forty-one voters in the borough. Its 
physicians are A. H. Bolles and Jonathan Barney. The Metho- 
dist church is a neat structure. Maplewood Cemetery was 
chartered in 1865. 

For the last few years, in addition to the district school, a 
select school has been sustained in the autumn months by J. W. 
Tinker, William F. Miles, and others. 

During the war the patriotism of this section was well repre- 
sented in the field and at home. 

With few exceptions, the aged people of Apolacon are not the 
longest residents. One John Ragan, is said to be 104 years of 
age, and walks to Friendsville, a distance of three miles from his 
home, to attend church, quite regularly. 

Darius Barney, the first-born of the Borough of Little Mea- 
dows, lived in the place all his life — sixty-nine years. 

Polly Fessenden came to the township in 1809, and moved to 
Tuscarora in 1869. 

Jonathan and Harry Barney, some of the first settlers, have 
spent their lives in Little Meadows. 

As early as 1809, this section was visited by ministers of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, among whom were Messrs. Loring 
Grant (circuit preacher), Ross, and Baker. 

Asahel Graves, Sen., a layman of the Presbyterian church, 
who came in 1814, collected a few of the scattered inhabitants, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 429 

read to them a discourse and conducted other religious services. 
This was three or four years prior to any regular church organ- 
ization here. 

It could not have been earlier than 1816, that Elder Davis 
Dimock organized a Baptist church here. Two of the constituent 
members, Polly Fessenden and Lucinda Whitaker, are still liv- 
ing ; but the. organization long since ceased to exist. It was the 
first religious society of the township, as the Free Will Baptists 
were not organized until a little later, by Elder John Gould, who 
afterwards became a follower of Joe Smith. Notwithstanding 
this unpropitious fact, the society continued, and having concen- 
trated about two miles north (in the State of New York), built a 
church edifice in 1845, and are now in a state of prosperity. 

Not far from the time of the latter organization, the Metho- 
dists were formed into a society by John Griffin. The constituent 
members were John Brown and wife, Charles Nichols and wife, 
Benjamin Buffum and wife, and,Winthrop Collins and wife. A 
little later John Clifford and wife joined the society, and the 
former was appointed class-leader, a position he held for many 
years. They have all passed away, as have most of those who 
labored for their spiritual benefit: Solon Stocking, Joseph 
Towner, Erastus Smith, Thomas Davy, John Griffin, Morgan 
Rugar, and others. 

The first quarterly meeting was held in a building used as a 
carding-machine shop. Solon Stocking was then presiding elder. 
The society continues and is now in a strong and healthful con- 
dition, numbering about one hundred members. In 1845 they 
built the meeting-house they still occupy, but it has since been 
enlarged, and a bell is added. 

An effort was made in 1823, by Elder Edward Dodge (Baptist), 
to establish a Sunday-school, but it proved a failure, possibly 
because the Sunday-school hymns were not then attractive. A 
verse of one is here given as a specimen (No. 102, Watts): — 

" No, I'll repine at death no more, 
But, with a cheerful gasp, resign 
To the cold dungeon of the grave 
These dying, withering limbs of mine." 

In 1824, Miss Polly Graves collected the children together, 
and spent an hour each Sabbath morning and afternoon in ex- 
plaining to them the Word of God ; but it was not until the 
following year that a regular organization was effected by Wil- 
liam Dobson. This Sunday-school has been continued to the 
present time. Its first officers were: Wm. Dobson, superin- 
tendent ; Benaiah Barney, president ; Lewis Barton, treasurer ; 
Wm. House, librarian ; and Jacob Barton, secretary. 

In the summer of 1828, there was a great Sunday-school cele- 
bration at Owego, N. Y., when seventy-eight scholars from this 



430 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

vicinity, under the superintendence of Wm. Dobson, were present. 
Each scholar wore around the neck a blue ribbon, having a 
Testament suspended from it. There were fourteen wagons in 
the procession, while some persons went on horseback and others 
on foot. Many were barefoot, and all were dressed in homespun. 
A Bible had been offered by Charles B. Pixley, of Owego, to the 
school best represented at this celebration, and Supt. Dobson, in 
behalf of his scholars, had the honor of bearing off the prize, 
which, by a vote of the school, was afterwards presented to him 
as a token of kind regard. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CHOCONUT. 

During the first term of court held in Susquehanna County, 
January, 1813, a petition was presented for the erection from the 
northern part of Eush (then extending to the State line), of a 
township eight miles square, to be called Choconut. A remon- 
strance, setting forth the propriety of dividing Rush into three 
nearly equal townships, was afterwards received, and the prayer 
granted "nisi," November, 1813, and finally, January, 1814, 
making Choconut six miles north and south, by eight miles east 
and west. Its area as thus determined remained unaltered until 
1846, when it was reduced more than one-half by the erection of 
Apolacon, which now forms its western boundary. The State 
line is on the north, Silver Lake township on the east, Forest 
Lake and Friendsville on the south. 

Choconut derives its name from the stream which traverses 
the entire length of the township near its eastern border, and so 
nearly due north, that from the hills on either side, near the State 
line, the whole valley southward is distinctly seen. 

At the time the State line was run, it was reported to cross the 
Chucknut, among other streams falling into the Susquehanna 
within a short distance above the line. Its Indian signification 
is not positively ascertained. The head of the Choconut is in 
the narrow divide between it and the middle branch of the 
Wyalusing in the northern part of the township below; but it is 
also fed by a beautiful lake of the same name in the southwestern 
part of Choconut township. Small ponds form the sources of 
three or four tributaries on the west, which furnish fine mill- 
seats, as also do two or three coming from the east; and these 
have been improved from the first settlement of the township. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 431 

The surface of Choconut is billy; the soil, gravel and clay. 
It is well adapted to the raising of corn, potatoes, oats, rye, grass, 
beans, carrots, turnips, etc., and spring wheat and barley, when 
managed properly. The land on the hills is the best for grain. 
Buckwheat grows well, but rye and oats better. 

There are not as many sheep as formerly, but most of them 
are of superior breeds. " There are no finer sheep-pastures than 
the hills of Susquehanna County, and there is no reason why, 
with a little effort and enterprise on the part of farmers, and the 
introduction of the same breeds, it should not compete with 
Vermont." 

The wild animals of the earlier times were deer (very numer- 
ous), wolves, and a few bears. There were a few foxes, otter, 
the porcupine, sable, and marten. Panthers and wild-cats were 
quite frequently seen ; and in some years there were millions of 
wild pigeons. Wild geese and ducks are still found on the lakes 
every autumn, which contain trout (genus salmo); some being 
two feet long. 

The settlement of the township was begun in 1806 along Cho- 
conut Creek, by James Rose, David Owen, James Thayer, John 
Lozier, and James Winchell. Mr. Rose was a man of education, 
a surveyor, and agent for lands in this section. His early life 
had been spent in Philadelphia and vicinity. He located on the 
flat now occupied by Michael Donnelly, 2nd. Mrs. Rose died 
here in 1816, leaving eleven children, only one of whom, the 
widow of Horace Bliss, is now living in the county. Mr. Rose 
died in Silver Lake, on the site of the former residence of his 
brother, Dr. Robert H. Rose, many years after the death of the 
latter. 

David Owen was from Connecticut, and is spoken of as " a 
good farmer ;" James Thayer, from New York, an excellent 
millwright, whose sons, Hiram and Thomas, were deer-hunters 
as well as farmers. John Lozier remained a number of years, 
but James Winchell appears to have left after a short time. 

Joseph Addison, Edward Cox, and the Chalker brothers — 
Daniel, Joseph, and Charles — were on the Choconut, below 
James Rose, prior to March, 1809, and Bela Moore was at the 
junction of the outlet of the lake with the creek. 

Joseph Addison was a Scotch-Irishman — a Protestant; his 
wife, a Dutch woman. Their son Isaac was the first child born 
in Choconut. The father died April, 1849, aged 72. 

Edward Cox had settled in Lawsville as early as 1805. He 
died in Choconut in 1821. His sons were Edward and Thomas. 
His daughter Sabra taught the first school in the township, at 
her own home. 

In 1810, Adam Carman, a hunter, purchased of Dr. Rose, 



432 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

lands now owned by the widow of Caleb Carmalt near the lake, 
which was first called Carman's Lake. 

William Price owned the farm next below J. Addison, and 
near the State line ; Joshua Griswold, from Vermont, was in the 
western part of the township, and, a few years later, he and his 
sons, Clark and George, built the first saw-mill in Choconut ; and 
he was appointed the first justice of the peace. Captain Ezra Doty, 
a blacksmith, and a soldier of the Revolution, was, with his sons, 
"William, Nathan and Zura, at the place since known as "Man- 
nington." and later "St. Joseph's." E. Doty was afterwards in 
Forest Lake. 

Amos Webster, a native of Connecticut, came from near the 
Mohawk, September, 1810, and located on the creek north of E. 
Doty, where he remained until his death, in 1841, aged 77. He 
was a shoemaker. His sons were, Abel, Alexander, Asahel, 
Alvah, Sylvester, Elias, and Russell. None of the family are 
now residents of Choconut. 

Adonijah Webster, brother of Amos, first took up land here — 
about two hundred acres, dividing with the latter — but did not 
settle until years afterwards, and somewhat later than his only 
son, Elias. The latter died in Choconut, May, 1832, and his 
father in July following. 

Prior to 1813, Horace Bliss, who married Isabella, daughter 
of James Rose, was located near the latter; Levi Smith, a potter, 
from Vermont, settled where Cornelius Hickey lives; Jedediah 
Tallman, a Quaker, and son Stephen J., a carpenter, were here, 
and the latter taught the first public school ; also, Reuben Faxon, 
a hatter, and many years later a justice of the peace. Jesse 
Truesdell was a taxable, at least, as early as these. 

Lewis Chamberlin, a native of Rhode Island, who removed to 
Vermont in 1800, and married there in 1811, came to Choconut 
September 1, 1813, with his wife and one child (Albert), and 
settled on the farm he occupied until his death, March 20, 1871, 
when he had reached nearly the age of 87 years. 

A. Chamberlin, late justice of the peace in Montrose, and 
now United States assessor in Scranton, recalls the time when 
from his bed he could see the stars through the chinks in the 
roof. Eight or nine brothers and sisters grew up with him, 
and one-half of the number still remain with their mother on 
the old spot — the only persons of New England birth and descent 
now left in the valley of the Choconut, down to the State line. 

During the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, Lewis Chamberlin 
received a commission as postmaster, which office he held with- 
out intermission or re-appointment until his death, a period of 
42 years ; and is supposed to have been, at the time, the only 
acting postmaster in the United States whose commission bears 
so remote a date. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 433 

Benjamin Chamberlin, father of Lewis, came a few months later 
than he. Both were scythe-makers. The father when a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war was a prisoner three months on board 
a prison-ship in the East River, near New York. He died in 
1822, aged 60. His widow, Olive, died in 1843, aged 82. 

All the common trades were represented by the early settlers. 
the most of whom also cultivated land. 

Among the taxables of 1813 were: Jesse Taylor, a cabinet- 
maker ; Gordon Bliss, a house-joiner and carpenter, near the 
school-house, on the creek, below James Rose ; and Jirah 
Bryan, a farmer near St. Joseph's, and also, a Baptist minister. 
He published a small treatise on the Atonement, entitled the 
' Seven Links.' He died in 1844, aged 64. His widow, after- 
wards Mrs. Horace Birchard, recently deceased, mentioned the 
fact of a small clearing having been made on the hill near St. 
Joseph's, close to which a panther prowled all winter. " He 
would begin to yell near the clearing, and go oft* screaming till he 
was out of hearing. I have counted," she added, " seven deer, all 
large, going out of our wheat-field, where they had been feeding." 

Paul Taber, Jonathan Green, Paul Jones, Ezra Congdon 
(since in Binghamton), and Andrew Gardner, were farmers — the 
last named also a mechanic. Lark Moore, "a first-class cooper 
and farmer," was in the southwest corner of the present town- 
ship, a part of his land being now included in the borough of 
Friendsville, and extending on the turnpike from Silver Lake 
Street to the west line of Mrs. Munda. Michael Dow, Bildad 
Hubbell, William L. Isham, and David Lindley appear to have 
been in as early as 1813 ; but in the year following their places 
were occupied by others, among whom were Jacob and Jesse B. 
Goodsell. 

Jacob Goodsell, and his sons, Isaac, Daniel, Samuel, Harry, 
Ira, and Truman, settled near the lake, having purchased the 
lands of Adam Carman, and for some years after it was called 
"Goodsell'sPond." 

In 1814, Matthew Stanley began a clearing at the place since 
named "Ellerslie," then in Choconut, but he soon after came to 
the farm now occupied by his son Jasper Stanley, about two 
miles north of Choconut Lake. He was afterwards a justice of 
the peace. His sons who came with him were, Calvin, Luther, 
Jasper, Captain Stephen Heriman, Archy, Horace, Jason, and 
Matthew. Luther Stanley was in the war of 1812. Matthew 
Stanley, Sr., died in 1838, aged 72. 

Jasper Stanley is the only man of the settlers prior to 1817 
now (1872) living in the township. These pages are indebted to 
him. 

Capt. John Locke, one of the Boston tea-party of 1773, and a 
soldier at Bunker Hill, White Plains, and Saratoga, came to 
28 



434 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTT. 

Choconut, May, 1814. His farm was on the south line of the 
township, adjoining Jirah Bryan's. His sons, John, Edmund, 
and Nathaniel K., were stone-cutters and masons. He died in 
.the spring of 1834, aged eighty-three. 

Nathaniel R. Locke came to Choconut a single man. He 
married Hetty Ross and lived on the place now occupied by 
John Gorman. Their son, David Ross Locke, is the author of 
the ! Petroleum Y. Nasby' papers — a series of political letters 
which have had an influence on the politics of the country. 
They very early attracted, by their ability and humor, the at- 
tention of President Lincoln. "Nasby" was born on Choconut 
Creek, it is said, but a little beyond the State line, in Yestal, 
Broome County, N. Y. N. R. Locke, now nearly or quite eighty 
years old, writes from the West, that, on his arrival in Choconut, 
May, 1814, there was no military organization ; but that in Oc- 
tober of that year an election of officers was held and Isaac 
Goodsell was chosen Captain, Joseph Whipple (Silver Lake) 

First Lieutenant, Jewett, Second Lieutenant, and N. R. 

Locke, First Sergeant. He says : — 

"We had to go to Montrose for our battalion. We were given the right, 
and so became the first company in the regiment. I think Mr. Whipple 
must have resigned, as I was elected first lieutenant. Frederick Bailey was 
colonel, and Edward Packer, major. But by some means our company 
dwindled away. The military law was then very defective in Pennsylvania, 
and we were without an organization for some time; so Dr. Rose proposed 
to have a rifle company formed in Silver Lake. We met at his office and 
organized into a company called the ' Silver Lake Rifles.' Our uniform was 
a hunter's frock, and pants of green flannel, trimmed with yellow, a red sash, 
common hat with a buck-tail in front. We had a full company, according to 
law, N. R. Locke, Captain, Philip Griffith, First Lieutenant, and Bradley 
Chamberlin, Second Lieutenant. By some means we never got our commis- 
sions, so that company also went down, and I went out of the military 
business altogether." 

A family of Lockes, not related to the above, consisting of 
Molly, widow of Ebenezer Locke, and her sons, Reuben T. and 
Charles, were located on the creek below Gordon Bliss, and on 
the place now occupied by Peter Clarke. Mrs. Locke died in 
1844, in her seventy-sixth year. Reuben T. Locke was after- 
wards a tailor in Montrose, and built what was long known as 
the Locke Mansion, now Odd Fellows' hall. " He was of Lambert- 
ine proportions," says a newspaper correspondent, " whom I well 
knew as an original abolitionist and a wit of the first water, in 
the days when the fun of the controversy, as brought out in that 
tailor's shop, found precious few who had the capacity to enjoy it." 

Capt. Westol Scoville, a Revolutionary soldier, was another 
settler of 1814. His sons, Buel and Orlen, were wagon-makers. 

In 1815, Peter Brown moved in from Silver Lake, and kept 
the first store in Choconut. Bildad Hubbell afterwards sent 
goods to the place, which were sold by his agent, Mr. Stanley. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 435 

Chauncey Wright, a clothier, from Hartwick, Otsego County, 
N. Y., settled on a branch of the Choconut, near the present 
center of the township, and established a fulling-mill. In 1842, 
he removed to Forest Lake. 

John Sherer, miller and farmer, came the same year. His sons 
were John, James, William, Barrett and David. 

Eobert Giffen and his sons Isaac and Robert, farmers, settled 
on the Choconut next below James Eose. He died about 1821. 

The year 1816 brought in a large number of inhabitants, but 
it was a year of great destitution. The corn crop was a total 
failure. None was raised this side of Chester County, Pa. 
Jehu Lord, then residing there, but afterwards in Choconut, 
raised ten acres of corn, which was all sold for seed, at $5.00 per 
bushel. " Hogs were not fat enough to be called pork. Deer 
were poor, but with rye bread and a very few potatoes, furnished 
subsistence for the pioneer. Maple sugar had been plentifully 
made as late as the 12th of May. The snows of 1815-16-17 were 
not sufficient for sleighing." 

Hiram Bates, a shoemaker, tanner, and currier, located just 
opposite and north of Chauncey Wright, on the present farm of 
Mrs. E. Mulford, where he remained until about thirty years ago, 
when he went West. 

Of other settlers of 1816, there were : Ezra Conant, a cooper; 
John Clark, a great hunter; John Eldred, a soldier of 1776, and 
Zephauiah, his son, of the war of 1812, and who died recently at 
Owego, aged eighty-six ; x William Elliott, a blacksmith ; Jehiel 
Griswold, formerly a ship-carpenter, and sons, Judson, Levi 
(afterwards a Presbyterian minister), and Eben ; John Fair- 
brother ; David Rob be, a farmer, and some years later a justice 
of the peace ; and Daniel Wheeler, a school teacher and farmer. 

Calvin Leet, a physician from Vermont, located first at " Slab 
City" — as the vicinity of Wright's mill was called — but soon re- 
moved to Friendsville where he owned about 300 acres. His 
father, Capt. Luther Leet, came soon after. Dr. Leet was the 
first regular physician in the western half of the county, and for 
some years the only one. " He had a rough circuit to ride when 
the roads were root-y and full of stumps." He was once an 
Associate Judge of Susquehanna County Courts, and served in 
the State Legislature. He is still living, an octogenarian, at 
Friendsville. His son, Nathan Y. Leet, succeeded him in the 
practice of medicine in the same vicinity, several years, but is 
now located at Scranton. Calvin L., another son, resides in 
Friendsville, on the old farm of Henry Cox. 

1 Mrs. Eldred, at an early day, lost her way while chestnutting, aud wandered 
about until nearly midnight in a marshy part of the woods. The wolves howled 
around her, and she climbed a tree for safety. She was found there in the 
morning, and put on the path for home. 



436 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

In 1817, Joab Chamberlin, a wheelwright and wagon-maker, 
and a brother of Lewis, located near the latter ; he removed some 
years ago to Michigan, where he died May 4th, 1869, in the 
seventy-fourth year of his age. 

Jacob Heath and his son Amos purchased farms in the north- 
east corner of the township. 

In 1818, elections for Silver Lake and Choconut were held at 
the house of Levi Smith. For many years these townships were 
united in many ways; all the settlers were on lands of Dr. R. 
H. Rose, his tract then extending over both townships and be- 
yond. 

In 1819, Samuel Barnard, from Boston, England, Thomas Lay- 
cock, Samuel and Isaac Marshall came to this section, and soon 
after, Thomas Christian. The first named soon removed to Mont- 
rose. Thomas Laycock was near Choconut Lake. 

In 1820, Thomas Peironnet, an Englishman, had scarcely 
reached Friendsville, when he died suddenly ; his lands along 
the turnpike, extending into both Choconut and Apolacon, were 
transferred to his brother James S. Peironnet. The latter was born 
in Dorchester, England. A friend said of him : " He exchanged 
for a home in a then uncultivated wild, the shaven lawn and 
rose-wreathed cottages that lend such charms to English scenery. 
He often reminded me of those virtues that grace the character 
of an English country squire as shadowed forth by the felicitous 
pen of Irving. He retained a love of letters to the last; and 
when in the mood, touched his violin as a master. He had a 
thorough knowledge of music as a science, and composed with 
readiness." He died December 21, 1843, in his seventy-first 
year. Thomas Christian built the R. D. Peironnet house, now 
M. Dow's, and this was in Choconut ; but the house o£ James S. 
Peironnet, now E. Moran's, was in Apolacon, upon the division 
of the former. 

Of J. S. Peironnet's sons, R. D. and John S. were merchants of 
Friendsville in 1835, and for several subsequent years ; Fred- 
erick was a physician. Two daughters married Henry and 
Sackville Cox. The family removed to the West several years 
ago. 

The year 1819 was marked by the arrival of a large number 
from the vicinity of Philadelphia who belonged to the religious 
Society of Friends. 

FRIENDSVILLE. 

About this time Dr. Rose set off a tract three-quarters of a 
mile long by three-sixteenths of a mile wide on each side of 
the Milford and Owego turnpike, which he named Friendsville. 
This was in reality the name of the settlement of Friends, though 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 437 

few of their number were within the prescribed limits, the lands 
of some lying in what is now Forest Lake and Middletown, and 
of others in the center of the present township of Choconut. 

William Salter, Samuel Savage, William and John King 
(English), John and Thomas Nicholson (from Ireland), Thomas 
Barrington, Daniel Kichards, Enoch and George Walker (from 
Chester County), were among the earliest Friends here. The 
last named located at " Lakeside," but soon removed to " Wood- 
bourne." 

Lydia, wife of Daniel Richards, was a minister among Friends. 
Their sons were, Abel, Roland, Daniel, Samuel, and Joseph. Mr. 
Richards is buried in Friends' Cemetery ; Mrs. R. died in 1840, 
in her 70th year, at the West. The Nicholsons were located 
east of the lake. John died in New York ; Thomas removed 
to Springville. 

Thomas Barrington died in Ohio. Samuel, his brother, came 
to the place S. Barnard had occupied ; he died in Friendsville 
(or vicinity). Elizabeth, his wife, is mentioned as "a woman 
whose mild and courteous demeanor was happily blended with 
the unobtrusive graces of the christian." She died in Spring- 
ville at the house of her son-in-law, Thomas Nicholson. 

Samuel Savage left after two or three years. 

William Salter had a store at Friendsville in 1820. Dr. Levi 
Roberts came about this time. He died here about five years later. 
His lands passed eventually into the hands of Isaac Carmalt and 
Joshua Gurney. James Palmer, a blacksmith from Delaware 
Co., John Hudson, Thomas Darlington, Nathan Hallowell, Jehu 
Lord, Seth Pennock, John L. Kite, Joseph and William Thatcher 
(from Chester County), whose land was transferred from James 
Thayer and David Owen, were among the arrivals prior to 1825. 

John Hudson was an Englishman ; his son John married 
Susan, sister of Caleb Carmalt, and both are buried in Friends' 
Cemetery. 

John Lord was a minister among Friends ; he died in Ohio. 
His three daughters were the wives of Seth Pennock, John L. 
Kite, and John Mann. 

Those who came in 1819 and 1820 were diminished nearly 
one-half within three years. T. Darlington and N. Hallowell 
left not long after. They were located just north of Lakeside. 

What was thought of this section by a visitor, and by others 
at that time, may be learned from the following letter dated 
June, 1821, and first published in the ' Village Record,' edited by 
Asher Miner, in Southern Pennsylvania ; it was written by 
Samuel Baldwin, of Chester County, who afterwards purchased 
lands here, which, by 1823, had reverted to Dr. Rose. 

" The timber of Susquehanna County is a suitable proportion of white 
pine and hemlock, for building, fencing, etc. ; white ash, chestnut, wild 



438 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

cherry, and beecb, some white and black oak, with a plentiful proportion of 
sugar maple to supply a sufficiency of sugar and molasses for the inhabi- 
tants, and some for exportation. 

" The county is, as respects the surface, what is generally called a ridgy or 
rolling surface — very few of the hills too steep for cultivation, and their 
summits appear equally fertile with any other part. In the hollows or val- 
leys there are delightful clear streams, a proportion of which are large enough 
for any kind of water-works, and they abound with trout and other kinds of 
fish. I think it the best watered country in my knowledge. Sufficient 
evidence can be produced that abundant crops of wheat and rye have been 
raised there, and Indian corn at the rate of 100 bushels to the acre, and 
these crops without ploughing the ground. The custom of the country is 
to raise several successive crops with harrowing the ground only. 

" From a free conversation with the inhabitants, I was assured that the air 
is generally serene and clear, the climate very healthy— seldom if ever any 
fog — clear of fever and ague, or fall fevers. 

" The Friends' settlement is called Friendsville, and is situated on the 
great western turnpike leading to the Lake Country. There are divers 
turnpikes passing through said county from Philadelphia and New York, 
and our navigable waters furnish an easy mode for the conveyance of pro- 
duce to those markets— say 160 to 180 miles distant, and there is a pros- 
pect of having the distance considerably shortened. 

" The Friends hold meeting regularly twice a week, under the care of a 
committee of the monthly meeting of Stroudsburg." 

Mr. Waldie, editor of the ' Messenger,' which he then published 
at Montrose, added in his paper the following comments upon 
Mr. Baldwin's letter : — 

"We 

situation, 

the most incorrect opinions are circulated in Philadelphia, by certain peo- 
ple, we ourselves know ; and if we had given credence to the many idle tales 
we heard we certainly should never have ventured here. But, like Mr. 
Baldwin, we wished to judge for ourselves ; we visited it, and are satisfied." 

Yet he, too, disposed of his interests in the county as early as 
Mr. Baldwin. 

Benjamin T. Glidden, a native of New Hampshire, came to 
Friendsville from New York State, about 1825. He was a 
blacksmith. He remained but a short time before his removal 
to Warren, and subsequently to Little Meadows ; but in 1831 
he purchased a farm near Stanley Turrell, in what is now 
Forest Lake. Two years later he was again in Friendsville, and 
built the house now "owned by J. Mulhare, where he died Febru- 
ary, 1852, aged 68. His sons are Benjamin, of Friendsville (the 
late county treasurer), and D. W. Glidden, of Montrose. 

The lands and store of William Salter were transferred in 
1827 to Thomas Christian (not a Friend), who kept a store and 
tavern many years in Friendsville. 

Caleb and Sarah Carmalt joined the Friends' Settlement in 
1829. During the previous year Mr. C, in addition to purchas- 
ing the half of Dr. R. PI. Rose's estate in Susquehanna County, 
had secured the farm now known as " Lakeside," from Thomas 



hope it will allay the foolish and unfounded ideas regarding our 
l, soil, etc., which have been latterly entertained in the cities. That 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



439 



Williamson, of Philadelphia, who bought it, in 1819, of Jacob 
Goodsell. Goodsell's Pond has since been known as Carmalt or 
Choconut Lake. 

Fiff. 23. 




" LAKESIDE," NEAR FRIENDSVILLE. RESIDENCE OF MRS. CALEB CARMALT. 

(The Lake lies about sixty rods south of the house.) 

CALEB CARMALT. 

Caleb Carmalt was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His ances- 
tors emigrated from Cumberland County, England. His education was 
mainly the result of his own efforts. He first entered a printer's establish- 
ment, and learned the business ; but afterwards entered the office of a dis- 
tinguished conveyancer of Philadelphia, and learned the profession thor- 
oughly, reading law to such an extent that he is said to have " committed 
Blackstone to memory." He was a member of the Society of Friends, grow- 
ing more interested in their principles as he grew in years. During the 
first ten years of his life he resided in Philadelphia, and was always active 
in political and public affairs. 

He removed to this county in 1829, becoming, by his purchases from Dr. 
R. H. Rose and others, one of its largest land owners ; and he exercised a 
great influence among the settlers. 

The division of the Society of Friends carried from the community in 
which he lived, many of those who were most nearly associated with him. 



440 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The completion of the Erie Railroad superseded the great stage routes, 
and contributed to isolate this section from the outside world. 

Thus the latter years of his life were spent in seclusion, although he never 
lost his activity until his last illness. He died March 10, 1862, in the 70th 
year of his age, leaving five children, and a widow who still has her home in 
the house he built more than forty years ago. 

In 1830, the division among Friends took place, and the 
meeting at Friendsville, then consisting of only about ten fami- 
lies, was broken up. Most of the Orthodox Friends left within 
a year or two after the division. 

[The following tribute to Miss Richards, a successful teacher 
and army nurse, is from the pen of a grateful pupil.] 

Elizabeth W., the only daughter of Daniel and Lydia Richards, accompanied 
her parents and brothers from Chester County, about 1820. Their first 
location was where J. Carrigan now resides ; but afterwards the present H. 
Duffy farm within the borough limits. 

Like the majority of early settlers, they secured the necessities of life by 
daily toil ; yet. in their thirst for knowledge, evening always found the family 
with books and slates in hand. 

Many were anxious to avail themselves of Miss Richards' success in im- 
parting instruction ; but her instinctive modesty and desire for a retired life 
prevented her becoming as widely known as her attainments deserved. She 
occasionally, after her parents' death, gave up her school, or changed its lo- 
cation, while she devoted her time and sympathies to aged and feeble rela- 
tives, in different States. Her mission to California in attendance on her 
youngest brother — the late Joseph T. Richards, Esq., of Montrose — was as 
heroic as it was sad. 

The journey at that time — in 1852 — was but rarely attempted by women, 
and almost only by those impelled by love and duty. Yet the privations were 
nothing compared to the changes of climate; the miasma on the Isthmus, 
which induced the Panama fever ; the severing of home ties ; the feeling of 
care and responsibility on her part ; knowing, as far as human foresight could 
foresee, that her beloved charge could not live to be her protector on the re- 
turn voyage ; the trials of an invalid in a strange land ; their peril on the 
rainy night, when their hotel at Sacramento was consumed by fire ; their 
flight and exposure, only escaping with the bedclothes wrapped around 
them ; their journey to a more genial southern clime ; then the last sad 
scenes, and the lonely grave in which now rest the mortal remains of her 
only treasure in that far off El Dorado ! Her reliance on the All-sustaining 
arm alone carried her through all and brought her home a composed, though 
sorrowing woman. She now turned her attention to her brother's orphan 
children. This duty occupied her time for several years. 

On the breaking out of the rebellion, she offered her services to the Gov- 
ernor of Ohio (where she was then residing) as hospital nurse. She was 
assigned to duty at Camp Dennison ; but the effects of the Panama fever had 
never been wholly eradicated from her system, and the exposure and hard- 
ships of camp life, together with her new duties, soon induced typhoid fever, 
which terminated her life while yet in its prime in the autumn of 1861. 

The township was accommodated in 1831 by a second post- 
office at Ellerslie — the first being established at L. Chamberlin's 
in 1829. 

The high hill just on the line dividing Choconut from Apola- 
con was for twenty years or more a part of the estate of Samuel 
Milligan, Esq. ; " Ellerslie," his residence, however, was on the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 441 

Apolacon side of the line. It is difficult to associate him with 
the latter township, as it was not erected until years after he left 
Choconut. 

The year 1832 was one of lively interest to the inhabitants of 
Choconut, pending discussions relative to roads. The Milford 
and Owego turnpike was their principal communication with the 
outside world, but this was fearfully hilly, and other avenues 
were sought; the Choconut Creek and Wilkes-Barre turnpike 
was projected, but never constructed. Reference is elsewhere 
made to the jokes perpetrated at the expense of the former road ; 
they were sometimes grim enough. A drover once remarked, 
"Every rod of the Owego turnpike ought to make a barrel of 
soap ; for my cattle alone have lost grease enough there to come 
to that much." 

In 1833 the strife was earnest to obtain the location of a rail- 
road from the Lackawanna coal field up Martin's Creek to the 
East and Middle Branches of the Wyalusing, and down the 
Choconut, and from thence to Owego. S. Milligan, Esq., made 
an able speech in behalf of this route, but other measures ob- 
tained favor, and resulted in the construction of the present 
Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. 

In the fall of 1833, John Mann, who had hitherto given his 
attention to his farm and saw-mill, opened a boarding-school at 
his residence. During the summer of 1834, the school was sus- 
pended for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings. In 1839 
it was incorporated as "Mannington Academy." This institu- 
tion was of service not only to Choconut, but to all the towns in 
the vicinity. The Choconut and Friendsville Lyceum had been 
established January, 1833, and both institutions combined to 
develop much hitherto latent talent. 

John Mann's hearty efforts in the anti-slavery cause served it 
well, and abundantly heaped upon himself the adverse criticisms 
of others. He went to Great Bend in 1842, and taught school 
in the Bowes' mansion for a time, and soon after left the county. 

The cause of temperance found early advocates in Choconut. 



Edward White was probably the first Irishman (not Protest- 
ant), in the vicinity of Friendsville. He was a man of education, 
and it was owing to his influence probably, that other Irishmen 
located here. His residence was in Middletovvn, where Keenan 
brothers are now. His land was over a mile in extent. 

The first Irishmen in the township were Thomas and Michael 
Donnelly, brothers-in-law, and Michael Donnelly second and 
third, uncle and nephew, distantly related to Michael Donnelly 
first. All came as early as lb27. Michael Donnelly who lives 



442 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

on the flat where his father, M. Donnelly, 1st, located, was then 
a little boy. Michael D., first and second, are dead. 

Michael Kane, Sen., Jeremiah O'Keefe, Dennis O'Day, and 
Michael Ryan were among the first twelve families. Within 
five years from this time a large number of Irishmen were here, 
and, among them, Edward Burke, who is still a resident of Cho- 
conut. His son John, who studied at Harford, and graduated at 
Hamilton College, is now prosecuting attorney for eight counties 
in Iowa. Edward Clark came in 1832 ; has served five years as 
justice of the peace ; Michael, son of Cornelius Hickey, who came 
in 1837, has also served five years, and is now postmaster and 
merchant at St. Joseph's. 

In 1831, Edward White contracted for building a small 
Roman Catholic church at Friendsville, and supplied all the 
materials, the frame excepted. This church has since been 
greatly improved through the influence of Father Mattingly, and 
has a large, fine-toned bell — the only church bell in the vicinity. 

St. Joseph's College, on the Choconut Creek, was opened in the 
autumn of 1852, and was destroyed by fire on the night of Jan- 
uary 1, 1864. " The building was insured, and cost about $5000. 
The chapel was elegantly fitted up, and the college was in a most 
flourishing condition, there being nearly a hundred students in 
attendance. There were four regular professors engaged, assisted 
by four clergymen and a corps of subordinate teachers. The 
libraries were all destroyed, and were very valuable. Fortu- 
nately there were no lives lost, although a portion of the pupils 
lost their clothing." 

The convent in the same vicinity was built about 1858, and 
was discontinued (removed to Susquehanna Depot) October, 1866. 

The corner-stone of the cathedral, situated at the head of the 
valley, was laid in November, 1859. The cost of the building 
has been estimated at about $25,000 ; but this is thought too low. 
The church records were burned with the college. 

Fathers O'Reilly and Fitzsimmons were influential in estab- 
lishing the college; but the cathedral was built by the efforts of 
the former, Father Fitzsimmons being then in Wilkes-Barre. 



Among the later Friends were: Joshua Gurney (Orthodox), 
Stephen and Hannah Brown, Benjamin and Mary Battey, and 
members of the families of Mann, Griffin, and Taylor. In 1839, 
there were sixty-two members of the monthly meeting at Friends- 
ville. The meeting-house, now gone, stood by the Friends' 
burying-ground about half a mile from the borough, on the road 
leading to the lake. In 1849, the meeting was discontinued in 
consequence of many removals of Friends, and this "Prepara- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 443 

tive" was attached to the monthly meeting at Scipio, N. Y. Only 
one member now resides in Ohooonut, and in Friendsville not 
one remains. 

Friendsville was incorporated as a borough in 1846, with the 
following limits : — 

" Beginning at a stake and stones on the lands of Joshua Gurney, in the 
township of Middletown, thence south 37° W. 320 rods across lands of said 
Gurney and those of William Carlon, deceased, to a stake and stones ; thence 
north 53° W. 480 rods to a stake and stones on lands of Canfleld Dayton in 
the township of Apalachian : thence north 37° east 320 rods to a stake and 
stones on lands of the estate of James Peironnet, deceased ; thence south 
53° east 480 rods across the corner of Choconut to the place of beginning;" 
just twice the original limits. 

"Very little, comparatively, of this tract is occupied by village 
lots. The residents are mainly located on Turnpike Street, which 
passes through the center, and between North and South Streets. 
-The principal cross-roads lead to Binghamton, Silver Lake, and 
the Wyalusing. Two churches, a school-house, two or three 
stores, two hotels (J. Foster's was formerly Hyde's), a post-office, 
a wagon-shop, two blacksmith shops, two physicians' offices, and 
one justice's comprise the principal business of the place; farms 
extend within the borough limits. 

CHURCHES. 

The Choconut Baptist church was constituted January 29th, 
1814, at the house of David Owen, by " messengers" from the 
churches of Bridgewater and Rush, Elder D. Dimock presiding. 
The original members were: Bela and Lucy Moore, Stephen, 
Daniel, and Keziah Piatt, Silas P. and Amy Truesdell, Aurilla 
and Lydia R. Owen, and Achsah Doty. Of all the members who 
united during the first three years, not one was connected with 
this church forty years later. Meetings were held at the houses 
of Deacon Bela Moore and D. Owen, until 1817, when a school- 
house was occupied for a year or two; after that, quite regularly 
at the house of Edward Cox for four years, when a meeting " at 
the lower school-house near Brother Edward Cox's" is mentioned, 
the next year, at the school-house near Capt. Scoville's. 

The meeting-house was built about 1831, on the farm of Ed- 
ward Cox. Elder Dimock preached here occasionally until 1822, 
when Elder Joseph Bingham came ; in 1825, Elder Worden 
preached here a part of the time, and a Thursday evening prayer- 
meeting was established. In December, 1826, a written covenant 
was adopted. Elder James Clarke became the pastor of the 
church, and resided near it for five years. His son, Aaron B., a 
summer resident of Montrose, was for thirty years a principal of 
public schools in New York and Brooklyn. 

Elder Curtis came late in 1831 ; Elder Brand in 1833 ; Elder 



444: HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

C. G. Swan in 1834, for a time, and again in 1838, and then again 
in the spring of 1843, when there was a large accession to the 
church. In 1845, Elder Webster preached here, and there were 
then forty members in good standing ; yet, ten years later, the 
church disbanded. 

The causes of this decline, as given by Horace Bliss, then 
deacon and clerk of the church, were these : " That, though there 
have been nearly two hundred members since the organization, 
they were reduced to about thirty, of whom only seven or eight 
were male; about thirty having taken letters to Vestal, N. Y., 
and a number of others having sold their lands for various rea- 
sons, to immigrants, and removed; Presbyterian and Methodist 
churches had grown up around them; and the remnant left pos- 
sessed small means and moderate talent, and were in the midst 
of a people to whom they could have no access in a religious 
point of view." 

Deacon Bliss died in Silver Lake at the house of his daughter, 
Mrs. Andrew Rose. 

The Silver Lake and Choconut Presbyterian Church, organized 
in 1816, is mentioned fully in the following chapter. The first 
house of worship was erected on Choconut Creek 1831-33 ; but 
it became a private residence, and was first occupied as such by 
Horace Bliss. It had no spire. 

The Presbyterian church at Friendsville was built in 1841, 
and had once quite a flourishing congregation ; and an academy, 
under care of the Presbytery, was established here. 

For a long time there has been but occasional preaching here; 
the Episcopal service has been conducted by Rev. E. Mulford. 
The house is fast going to decay. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SILVER LAKE. 

During the first term of court in Susquehanna County, viewers 
were appointed to lay off a new township from the northern part 
of Bridgewater, to be called Silver Lake, after the name of one 
of the many beautiful sheets of water within its proposed limits. 

In August, 1813, it was the first township added to the original 
ten townships of the county. Its eastern boundary was then the 
west line of Lawsville; its southern, Bridgewater; its western, 
Rush (from which Choconut was separated a little later); and its 
northern, the State line. Its area was thirty-five square miles 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 445 

(5 by 7). In 1836, three or four square miles were set off to 
Forest Lake township. 

From a map of surveys made prior to the settlement of this 
section, we learn that the tract just north of, and nearly surround- 
ing, the lake was called Hibernia ; this, if not prophetic, is at least 
not a misnomer in reference to the present cast of its population. 

The whole township of Silver Lake was included in the one 
hundred thousand acres (or, by actual measurement, 248 tracts 
of 400 acres each), purchased by Dr. E. H. Rose, February 18th, 
1809, of Anne, widow of Tench Francis; who bought of Eliza- 
beth Jervis and John Peters, whose patent was obtained from 
the State in 1784. The purchase covered a tract at least thirteen 
miles in extent on the State line. 

Perhaps to no one individual is Susquehanna County more 
indebted for the early development of its resources than to Dr. 
Rose. His father, a Scotch gentleman, and his mother, a lady of 
Dublin, came to the United States a little before the Revolution- 
ary war, and settled in Chester County, Penna., where their son, 
Robert Hutchinson, was born. He received a liberal and accom- 
plished education. 

Dr. Rose said of himself (introductory to a sketch of his voy- 
age to Italy, in the 'Port Folio,' September, 1822): — 

" In the early part of my life I was accustomed to pass my winters in 
Philadelphia, and the rest of the year in the country. I spent the greater 
part of 1799 rambling in the wilderness which now forms the States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. I hunted with the Indians, slept in their 
wigwams, and was half tempted to remain with them. 

•' Among the Indians I had the reputation of being a good hunter, and 
capable of enduring much fatigue ; but my companions in the city considered 
me as a sybarite, and seldom found me out of bed before noon. One reason 
of my indolence was that I had nothing to do. We may be 'stretched on 
the rack of a too easy chain.' I sometimes thought myself capable of 
better things. 

" 'I don't know what to do with myself,' said I to an acquaintance. He 
replied 'you are fond of poetry, painting, and music — go to Italy.' 

"' A few days after, he told me a ship was ready to sail, bound for Leghorn ; 
and my trunk was soon on board." 

From the sketch of the voyage which followed, it appears to 
have been no holiday affair. He set sail June 23d, and did not 
pass the Azores until the 29th Of July. At Gibraltar the ship 
was attacked by privateers, and disabled so much as to oblige 
them to remain two months to re-fit ; when again en voyage, 
they reached Leghorn November 3d (probably 1800). 

The incident which led him, not long after his return, to 
come to this region, is given by one who heard it from his lips: — 

" One morning he met Colonel Pickering on the street, when the latter 
asked : ' Rose, what are you going to do with yourself this summer?' 

" ' I have not decided.' 

" ' Come with me ; I am going as government agent to look after those 
disputed lands." 



446 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" At that time Dr. Rose was 'a splendid shot,' and passionately fond of 
nature; and Colonel Pickering judged rightly that such an excursion would 
suit his taste. In recounting it, Dr. Rose said that he was so pleased that he 
determined on purchasing a tract, though at the time he had no thought of 
living in the country himself. It was in the course of some of the business 
transactions connected with the land, that he met the lady he afterwards 
married ; and the fact that her physician said her health required a country 
residence, determined him to locate on the banks of the lovely mountain 
lake ever after associated with his name. 

" He had studied medicine, and graduated in the University of Pennsylva- 
nia, to please his friends who thought he should have a profession; but it 
is said he never seriously intended to practice. 

"His paternal property was sufficient, and his tastes were suited by the 
circle in which he moved. His musical abilities were of a high order, and 
his poetic and literary tastes made him a prominent member of the literary 
club of which Dennie (editor of the 'Port Folio,' until his death, January, 1812), 
Nicholas Biddle, Ewing, Cadwallader, and a few others were ornaments. 

" The venerable Thomas Sully, one of our first as well as our oldest artists 
(deceased), told me he owed to him a debt of gratitude, for that he took 
him by the hand when he (Sully) was unknown, encouraged and patronized 
him, and was, he considered, the founder of his fortune." 

Dr. Rose, as an author, is mentioned in a succeeding chapter. 
As early as 1804 or 1805 he must have made the excursion 
referred to; but before making his purchase he interested him- 
self in the disposition of portions of the Drinker and Francis 
estates. 

During the year 1809, he gathered about him a large number 
of workmen to fell trees near the lake, and to construct a saw- 
mill preparatory to the erection of his dwelling house. 

His enterprises were a benefaction to those whose services he 
required, as they were paid for in cash — a rare return for labor 
then. 

In 1809, Zenas Bliss came with a large family from Tolland 
County, Connecticut, and located in the vicinity of the Choco- 
nut Creek, but still within the bounds of Silver Lake township. 
He was the first justice of the peace appointed here. 

"He was a Puritan of the old school. In early life he made a profession 
of the religion of Christ, and was ever afterward distinguished for consistent 
and devoted though unobtrusive piety. As a magistrate, he exhibited an 
enlightened sense of his duty as a guardian of the public peace. He believed 
that peace was as effectually promoted by discouraging unnecessary litiga- 
tion as by inflicting the salutary penalty of the law when circumstances made 
that necessary." 

In 1841, he removed to Leroy, Bradford County, where he 
died January 26th, 1861, in the 94th year of his age. His wife 
died there previously. His first vote was cast for Washington, 
his last for Lincoln. 

His sons were six : Gordon (now in Connecticut), Horace, 
Edwin, Beza H., Clark W., and Chester. Horace, long a resi- 
dent of Choconut, and deacon of the Baptist Church there, spent 
the last years of his life in Silver Lake. He died May 15, 1868, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 447 

aged 76 years. Beza and Clark are also dead. The latter was 
a physician at Elrnira, New York. The youngest son is a 
physician at Watkins, New York. Of his two daughters, one 
is living at the latter place. Some of his grandchildren and 
great-grandchildren are at present residents of Silver Lake. 

Dr. Rose held out inducements to industrious men to pur- 
chase farms in the vicinity. A number of the first settlers were 
Quakers, and from their location the largest lake in the town- 
ship — one mile long and half a mile wide — derived the name 
by which it is most frequently called, Quaker Lake, though its 
prettier designation — Derwent Lake — should be revived. 

Alpheus Finch, Peter Soule, and others were near it ; and 
the township has not at present, to the tourist, a more inviting 
locality. 

On the 10th of June, 1809, Alpheus and Sylvanus Finch, 
Jacob Hoag, Isaac Higgins, Charles Wooster, Peter Soule, and 
Philip Griffith arrived at Binghamton from Duanesburg, Sche- 
nectady County, New York, and from thence they proceeded by 
marked trees to Silver Lake. There was but one clearing (a Mr. 
Gould's), between Binghamton and the lake, except that begun 
by Dr. Rose. 

The party did not bring in their families until 1810. They 
were two days in reaching Silver Lake from Binghamton. 

The first house was erected by Alpheus Finch, on the east 
side of the Quaker Lake ; the second by Philip Griffith, on the 
farm now owned by James Foster. Logs were rolled up to 
form the sides, and split logs served for floors, gable ends, and 
roofs. 

Philip Griffith lived fifty-nine years in Silver Lake, until his 
death, November 21, 1868, in the 79th year of his age. His 
father, Jabez, came into the township a little later, and remained 
to the close of his life, March, 1819, aged 82 years. 

The wife of Philip Griffith was a sister of Peter Soule and a 
daughter of Jonathan Soule, who came later. Her death occurred 
in 1857. They had ten children, and all married while their 
parents were living. The sons were, David, Jonathan, Benjamin, 
Isaac, Philip, Ezekiel, Absalom, and Charles. The only one of the 
family now in Silver Lake is Mrs. Joseph S. Gage. 

Four of the sons of Jonathan Soule are living, though none are 
nearer the lake than Windsor, New York. He had seven sons 
and four daughters ; one of the latter was the wife of Charles. 
Wooster. He died June, 1842, aged 81. 

In 1810, Philo Briggs, Joseph and John Whipple; in 1811, 
Mortimer Gage, and two or three years later, Henry Hoag, and 
William Miller, came to the township, all from Duanesburg, 
New York. Philo Briggs located on Sucker Brook, or the inlet 
of Quaker Lake. He died in 1859. Two of his daughters now 



448 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

reside in the township — Mrs. Ansel B. Hill, and the widow of 
Michael Hill. The former has heard her mother speak of 
pounding corn for three weeks in succession, when it was the only 
article of food in the house. 

Joseph Whipple first cleared the place where Dr. Lewis now 
lives, at Brackney. He afterwards moved to the northeast cor- 
ner of Quaker Lake, where a small frame house had been built 
and vacated by Charles Wooster. After clearing a farm here, 
he sold it to Dr. Rose, and then bought one hundred acres and 
a saw-mill on Ranney Creek, where Jonathan Howard lives. 
This he left, again to subdue the forests on the farm where he 
now resides. He has raised sixty bushels of wheat from two 
bushels of seed, in Silver Lake. He is now (1871) an octogena- 
rian. 1 He reared twelve children, all now living, for whom he 
never spent a dollar for medicine. When he first settled here 
he could say that he lived in a township where there was neither 
physician, lawyer, nor justice of the peace. The latter office was 
soon after filled by Zenas Bliss. 

Mortimer Gage (or Gaige, as formerly spelled) was the first- 
comer of all the Gages in Silver Lake. There have been eigh- 
teen or twenty families of that name in the township at one 
time, and at present there are sixteen. There are also six more 
families just over the State line. All are descendants of four 
brothers, Simeon, Moses, Benjamin, and Joseph Gage, of Duanes- 
burg, N. Y., of whom only Joseph resided here. 

Dr. Rose had married, in 1810, a daughter of Andrew Hodge, 
Esq., of Philadelphia, and in 1811 he brought his bride to Silver 
Lake. For a time Mrs. R. boarded at Judge Thomson's, in 
Great Bend, " while some last touches were given to her new 
home ; and when she took possession she was obliged to go on 
horseback, blazed trees alone marking the way. All the house- 
hold stores were carried on the backs of horses led by men. One 
stalwart man declared he could carry as much of such stuff as 
any horse ; and a good portion of the more fragile things were 
packed for his shoulders, and he was paid accordingly, to his 
great satisfaction, and doubtless to the material benefit of the 
china." 

The first roads of the settlers were in general very bad. They 
were made by cutting the trees down close to the ground, and 
when the roots had in a measure decayed, a furrow was ploughed 
on the outside and the earth thrown into the middle of the road. 
But even this labor was then thought too great, as the first object 
ol the settlers was to raise grain for their families. 

The rapid influx of population, within the next three or four 
years, can best be shown by an advertisement of Dr. Rose's which 

' Since deceased. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY 449 

appeared August 26, 1814, in ' The Union,' the first paper printed 
in Onion County, Pa., and issued at Mifflinsburg: — 

" To Settlers. — The subscriber offers for sale a large body of lands on the 
waters of the Wyalusing, Choconut, Apolacon, and Wappasuning Creeks, 
in the townships of Silver Lake, Bridgewater, Choconut, Middletown, and 
Rush; county of Susquehanna (lately part of Luzerne county), and State of 
Pennsylvania. The timber is principally beech, mixed with sugar maple, 
hemlock, ash, birch, basswood, chestnut, cherry, and white pine. The soil 
is in general of a good quality, and the country remarkably healthy and well 
watered. There are several mills built, two post-offices established, and a 
considerable settlement formed which is rapidly increasing. Montrose, the 
seat of justice for the county, is placed on the southeastern part of the tract. 
It is about 130 miles from the city of New York, and 160 from Philadelphia. 
A turnpike is now making to the city of New York, which passes for twenty 
miles through the tract ; and another is granted to Wilkes-Barre, on the way 
to Philadelphia, which passes twelve miles through it. The purchaser is 
suffered to take his choice of all the land unsettled. The price is three dollars 
per acre, except for the lots on the turnpikes, which are four dollars per 
acre. A reasonable credit will be allowed, an indisputable title, and deed of 
general warrantee will be given. For further particulars inquire of the 
subscriber, at the Silver Lake, on the premises. Robert H. Rose. 

" We the subscribers have purchased farms on the lands of Robert H. Rose. 
The soil is in general of a good quality, deep and lasting ; and the situation 
very favorable on account of market for our produce: — - 

" Daniel Gaige, Peter Soule, Alpheus Finch, Oliver C. Smith, Isaac Howard, 
Mortimore Gaige, Abraham Gaige, Joseph Whipple, Philip Griffith, Peleg 
Butts, Charles Davis, Christian Shelp, Nathan Brewster, John Griffis, 
Jonathan Ellsworth, Henry P^llsworth, Jacob Bump, George Bump, Johj 
Lozier, William Price, Lark Moore, Bela Moore, Joseph Addison, Charles 
Chalker, Daniel Chalker, Scott Baldwin, Richard Daniels, Zenas Bryant, 
Ephraim Fancher, Zephaniah Cornell, Moses Chamberlin, Benjamin Fancher, 
Caleb Bush, Asa Baldwin, Samuel Baldwin, Philip Blair, Thurston Carr, 
Elisha Cole, Isaac Soule, Hiel Tupper, Jabez A. Birchard, David Owen, 
Jeremiah Glover, Albert Camp, Daniel Heman, Ebenezer Coburn, H. P. 
Corbin, D. Taylor, Lemuel Walbridge, Leman Turrell, Canfield Stone, Philo 
Bostwick, Salmon Bradshaw, Billings Babcock, Robinson Bolles, Zenas 
Bliss, John C. Sherman, Philo Morehouse, Reuben Faxon, Darius Bixby, 
Asahel Southwell, Asa Brown, Edward Cox, Peter Brown, Amory Nelson, 
William Chamberlin, Daniel Chamberlin, Moses W. Chamberlin, Luther 
Dean. • 

" From Northumberland the distance is about 120 miles; the road is up the 
river, by Wilkes-Barre andTunkhannock, at which places it leaves the river 
and passes by Montrose to Silver Lake. To Tunkhannock, 90 miles, the road 
is very good ; the greater part of the rest is bad, but is rapidly improving." 

In a handbill, dated September, 1818, the above is repeated 
with additional statements. 

" There are now about five hundred families resident on the 
land." (This included nearly one-fourth of Susquehanna County.) 
Another statement gives four post-offices instead of two, as in 
1814. The distance from New York is shorter by seven miles. 
A third turnpike is mentioned (the Great Bend and Cochecton, 
completed in 1811, but not running through the Rose lands), as 
affording ready conveyance of produce to New York, as the 
Susquehanna River for that designed for Baltimore. The price 
29 



450 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of lots on the turnpikes is rated at " six dollars, and for those off 
of them, five dollars per acre. 4 ' The terms were, " the interest 
commencing at the time of the contract, to be paid at the end of 
three years, and one-fifth part of the principal annually after- 
wards, making in all eight years." 

Notwithstanding the easiness of these terms, the settlers fell 
behind in payment ; this had been the case especially in previous 
years, when, between April, 1813, and September, 1815, more 
than one hundred suits were entered by Dr. Rose against debtors, 
though his leniency is still remembered. "It reflects no little 
honor on his memory," writes one, " that notwithstanding the 
large amount owing to him from a thousand different hands, yet 
from first to last he was never known to sell by process of law 
the personal property of any for the purpose of enforcing the 
collection of a debt." 

The handbill stated further : — 

"The great improvements making in Susquehanna County offer strong 
inducements to mechanics of various kinds, especially to those who wish to 
add to their trade the advantages of a farm in a country where convenience 
of situation is united to a healthy climate and fertile soil. 

"The emigration from the Eastern States to Susquehanna County for the 
last two or three years has been very considerable ; and the industrious 
farmers from that quarter of the Union find a great advantage in the climate 
because of its southern situation. A certificate as to the quality and ad- 
vantages of Susquehanna County might have been published, signed by all 
the settlers on the tract, but it has not been thought necessary to occupy 
the paper with more than the following." [Here were given fifty-five of the 
names included in the previous list.] 

Certainly, nothing is stated here, but what has been abund- 
antly confirmed by the experience and observation of all after- 
comers ; but it is no less true, that the imagination either of the 
old world emigrants or of correspondents on this side of the 
water, gave to this portion of the new world a roseate hue which 
the dull reality did not justify. Dense forests were relieved but 
by blackened stumps and log-cabins, except the rare occurrence 
of an occasional frame-house, and perhaps the only instance of 
one painted, was that of the doctor's own. Not only in beauty of 
exterior, but in size and all its appointments, it was then unsur- 
passed in the county. An engraving of it appeared a few years 
later (June, 1816), in the 'Port Folio' (a copy of which we give), 
accompanied by the following remarks : — 

" The mansion of which we give a view, is the residence of one of the 
earliest and the most brilliant of the supporters of this journal. When we 
view our poetical friend retiring from the bustle, the tricks, and the heart- 
lessness of the world, to the tranquillity of sylvan shades, devoting the rich 
resources of his mind to the cultivation of the earth, we can scarcely con- 
ceive the exultation with which he may survey the wilderness of yesterday 
transformed into sloping lawns and smiling vales, covered with verdure and 
blossoming with the rose." 



£ 



p^ 



■1-3 

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CD 

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 451 

The " sloping lawns" must have been confined to this locality 
of the township ; and the " smiling vales" were so narrow, it 
was but a strip of blue that o'erarched the whole. 

Previous to the organization of Susquehanna County (1810) 
only one road had been regularly cut out within the present 
township of Silver Lake. This was a State road from the twenty- 
ninth mile-stone to what is now Montrose. It was but two rods 
wide. 

In 1813 a road from Silver to Choconut Creek near Edward 
Cox's is reported; and in August of the same year, upon the pe- 
tition of Dr. Rose, the court appointed viewers to lay out a road 
from his house to Joseph Ross' on the North Branch of the 
Wyalusing. November 15th and 16th following, Leman Tur- 
rell, Philo Bostwick, Bela Moore, Joseph Ross, and Isaac Stone 
viewed the route the second time. It passed through the im- 
provements of Zenas Bliss and Bela Moore, beginning near 
Silver Lake and running west to the line between that township 
and Rush (now Choconut), thence to Choconut Creek road and 
down it 80 rods, then N. W.and afterwards S. W. to the Milford 
and Owego turnpike (past Nathan Nelson's), then on the turnpike 
southeast 48 rods, then southwest to the road leading to Ross', 
half a mile east of his saw-mill bridge. This was " confirmed 
finally," January, 1814. Still the facilities for travel were limited 
until Dr. Rose cut a road through to Snake Creek at his own ex- 
pense it is said. This connected with " the old Brunson road" 
in Lawsville, which reached Wiley Creek just within the limits 
of Great Bend, and followed it to its mouth. This was the first 
mail route to Great Bend from Montrose via Silver Lake. 

John L. Minkler, Isaac and John Howard, and Oliver C. Smith 
were here prior to 1813. The last-named was a carpenter and 
joiner of superior skill for the times, and was the architect of the 
old court-house in Montrose. He built a grist-mill at the outlet 
of Quaker Lake. Many years later Joseph Gage, Sen., built 
another on the same site. 

In 1813, Dr. Rose also had a grist-mill in addition to his saw- 
mill. Both were a little above the present saw-mill of his son, 
E. "W. Rose. The following year he paid no taxes in Bridge- 
water; forty-two taxables had been taken from the latter by the 
erection of Silver Lake. 

Alpheus Finch and Zenas Bliss were the first supervisors. 

Peleg Butts was the first constable. He located near Mud 
Lake, but afterwards removed to Liberty, very near the State 
line, where he died. 

Once he and his son Isaac, at work in the woods, in a time of 
scarcity of provisions, were obliged to relieve their hunger by 
scraping and eating the inside of birch-bark. 

In 1814, Eli Meeker came, with his family, from Columbia 



452 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

County, N. Y., and settled near Quaker Lake, where his son Wil- 
liam (then twelve years old) is now located. His name is on the 
tax-list of 1813. He was a blacksmith, and had a shop near the 
lake shore. His sons were : William, Samuel, Nelson, Eli, 
Joshua, and Andrew, from whom have sprung numerous descend- 
ants. The sons of William were nine, of whom four reside 
north of the State line, as also, the six sons of Samuel. The 
descendants of Nelson and Joshua are in Michigan. Eli, Jr., 
resides in New York State, but three of his sons are in Silver 
Lake. 

Aaron Meeker, a brother of Eli (Sen.), settled by the shore of 
the most northern lake in the township, and it has ever since 
been called by his name. He died July, 1850, leaving but one 
son, Eeuben. 

Indian relics, in the shape of sinkers, arrow-heads, hatchets, 
and pestles, were found by the early settlers in the vicinity of 
all the lakes, whilst ploughing. 

The townships of Silver Lake and Choconut united, in 1814, 
to form a military company. 

In 1815, the first school was taught in a log-house built by 
David Briggs, a cousin of Philo, on the farm now occupied by 
John Murphy. Nathaniel Matthews, from Connecticut, was the 
first teacher, and he was succeeded by Philip Griffith. The first 
school-house built by the township stood on the southwest corner 
at the cross-roads in the southern part of Brackney, and it was, 
for years, also a house of worship. 

About 1815, Ephraim Strong built the house on Eichmond 
Hill, which was popularly styled " Richmond Castle." The hill 
was named by the English settlers, after a locality in England. 
He kept here a store in a small way. 

He was an active Presbyterian, to whose influence the first 
church of that denomination can trace its origin. 

He removed in 1819 to the vicinity of Athens, Pa., where he 
purchased a large farm. 

"Here he, with his numerous sons, made an opening in the 
pines, planted corn and potatoes, sowed buckwheat, built a snug 
frame-house, dug a well, and set out an orchard. Here this godly, 
intelligent, and well-educated household, the father a graduate of 
Yale College, and the mother a superior woman, lived several 
years. They removed to Hudson, Ohio." 1 

Ansel Hill and Zina Bushnell came from Middlesex County, 
Conn., in 1815. For the last twenty-five years Martin Hogan 
has occupied the house built by the latter. Just after Mr. B. 
left it, an Englishman by the name of Walley lived there. 

Esquire Hill built near Mr. B., but removed after two years 

1 Mrs. Perkins' ' Early Times on the Susquehanna.' 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 453 

to the corners, where, opposite the present residence of his son, 
Ansel B., he kept a tavern for ten years. He died in 1866, 

Joseph Macomber had occupied the same place just previous. 
Coggshall and P. Griffith afterwards kept the house. Still later, 
when the Binghamton mail was established on the Chenango 
turnpike, a Mr. Parker provided accommodations for passengers 
and horses at this point. Three of the four corners have been 
occupied by dwelling-houses. 

In 1816, Thomas Watters, a brushmaker, and native of Ire- 
land, lived in a log-house here. An old well is still seen near 
the spot. 

Jesse Coon, Almerin Turner, and Eoderick Eichards came 
about 1816. Mr. Eichards, in 1817, erected the first distillery 
in the township, just back of the present residence of Joseph S. 
Gage's. A blessing in the form of a spring of pure water now 
marks the spot where formerly the " Worm of the Still" was a 
curse. 

A stone still was afterwards built by Eogers, Brown & Clarke. 
Both were closed in 1821. Previous to this Henry Denison and 
family, from Westbrook, Conn., had come in and left. 

Charles McCarty, an Irishman, was here in 1816. 

The first Eoman Catholic did not come until three or four 
years later. 

During 1817-18 there was an accession to the township of at 
least twenty -five taxables. In 1819 there were nearly forty. 
These were principally members of 

THE BRITISH SETTLEMENT. 

In 1818 a meeting was held in Philadelphia by a number of 
Englishmen, whose object was the selection of an eligible spot for 
a settlement, which would combine advantages for both farmers 
and mechanics. 

Many had crossed the water with the view of settling on the 
western prairies, but unfavorable reports of the climate, water, 
etc., had determined them to seek a situation for the contemplated 
establishment "on the eastern side of the mountains, and within 
a reasonable distance from some of the seaports, in which all the 
surplus produce of the mechanic's labor might be vended, where 
the toil of the farmer would be rewarded by a good price for his 
produce, and where, in consequence of the country not being 
rilled with settlers, land might yet be had at a low price." 1 

All these advantages appeared to be combined in the lands 
offered for sale by Dr. Eose, and it was resolved, unanimously, 
to write to him, to ascertain the terms on which he would sell to 
a society of British emigrants. 

1 'Letters from the British Settlement,' by C. B. Johuson, M.D. 



454 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

On the receipt of a reply from the Doctor, a meeting of the 
emigrants was convened, and it was determined that a committee 
of five should proceed to Susquehanna County to examine the 
lands carefully, and to make a report of their situation, soil, 
water, etc. The result was a unanimous opinion in favor of the 
place ; and a contract was made November 15, 1818. 

Dr. Charles B. Johnson, from Shropshire, England, one of the 
committee, was among the first company. He located at the 
northeast corner of Quaker Lake, and occupied the house pre- 
viously mentioned as built by Charles Wooster, on what has 
since been known as the Main place. It was removed some years 
later, and is now an out-house on William Meeker's farm. 

Dr. Johnson appears as the author of a book, whose state- 
ments led many other Englishmen into this section, and who 
remained no longer than he — three or four years. He removed to 
Binghamton, where he died, in 1835, aged forty-seven years. He 
is said to have been a skilful surgeon ; his family possessed con- 
siderable talent in the use of the brush and pencil. 

From a leader in the ' Montrose Gazette,' April 24, 1819, we 
glean the following: — 

" The tide of emigration is fast setting into this country. The British set- 
tlement bids fair to advance the agricultural interest in this part of the 
State. Large purchases are making by the hardy cultivators of the soil 
from England. We trust those who purchase here in preference to traveling 
to the western wilds will enhance their own interests and those of our county 
generally. Indeed, we know of no part of the country better calculated for 
the English farmer than this ; our lands are cheap, our soil is good, our 
waters pure, our markets quick, and our climate healthy. Nothing is want- 
ing but industry to make Susquehanna County rich and flourishing." 

A gentleman who visited Silver Lake in 1821 published in 
the 'Village Record,' of Chester County, Pa., the following 
item : — 

" From four and a half acres of land that I was on in the neighborhood of 
Silver Lake, which was farmed with potatoes on shares, were raised 1600 
bushels. The owner gave the laborer $300 as his part of said crop. It 
(Susquehanna County) is famous for all kinds of roots and garden stuff." 

Anthony North, John Deakin, William Lawson, John Caslake, 
Thomas Rodgers, Charles Innes, James Ressegnie, Thomas Rich, 
and Samuel Hill were among the English settlers of this period. 
They were generally located in the vicinity of Quaker and Mud 
Lakes, which they called Derwent and Tenbury Lakes — reflect- 
ing credit upon their taste. Here they began a city, which they 
named Brittania. It was laid out in lots, which were quite nar- 
row on the road, but were one mile in extent. Nearly all the 
common trades were represented by the skill of the settlers of 
1819, and for a few years following. 

The British Emigrant Society, established here, offered to give 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 455 

a half-acre lot on the turnpike, cleared, to each of the first fifty 
mechanics who should build a house on the same, and com- 
mence his trade. The society required that the fronts of all the 
houses and shops erected in the town should be built according 
to the designs furnished by their architect, and should be painted. 
The sides, back, and interior might be finished or not, as the 
parties concerned might choose, and every house might be on 
such a plan and of such a size as best suited the convenience or 
purse of the builder. Ground was given for the site of public 
buildings, and a fund is mentioned as having been appropriated 
for them. It was the wish of the society to introduce a number 
of good farmers, and to settle industrious mechanics in towns in 
numbers sufficient to consume the farmer's produce. Factors, 
they promised, should be established in Philadelphia and New 
York, to whom wagons should be regularly sent with such of 
the manufactured articles as it might be desirable to sell there; 
and to bring back such imported articles as should be necessary 
for their consumption. 

Every plan contemplated by the society seems to have been 
feasible; but it is probably true that the English mechanic, or 
farmer even, was unfitted by his previous experience to be a 
pioneer in a country whose forests and hills were sufficiently 
appalling to New Englanders. The improvements of the latter 
were purchased by Dr. Eose and sold to the society, or to its 
individual members, but, as in all cases the farms were but par- 
tially cleared, and the two or three turnpikes of the county 
hardly counterbalanced the discomforts of the common roads, 
the high hopes of the incomers were gradually dissipated, if not 
suddenly crushed, and there were few who remained, or whose 
descendants are still in the township. 

Anthony North remained, though his discouragements were 
equal to any. 

He built a framed-house, but soon after he moved into it a 
whirlwind lifted the roof and carried it off so suddenly that his 
family were not aware of their loss until they retired for the 
night, when they found the bricks or stones of the chimney had 
fallen on a bed where a sleeping infant was lying; but, strange 
to say, although they were all around it, not one had struck it. 
The roof being painted, the shingles were recognized when 
picked up in the vicinity of New Milford. A pair of Mr. 
North's "short breeches" were found on the limb of a tree in 
Liberty. 

Mrs. N. is still living; her husband died within a few years. 
Their residence was at the head of Mud Lake. 

John Caslake, a man of considerable information, and a bache- 
lor well advanced in life, built the house near the bridge at Mud 
Lake, in which Thomas Rodgers, 1st, lived and died; and which 



456 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Thomas Eogers, 3d (grand nephew of the latter), now owns and 
occupies. Here Mr. C. died prior to 1830. 

Adjoining his place on the north was the earliest location of 
James Spratt; and above the latter was that of Thomas Rodgers, 
1st ; both built later near the top of the hill east of the lake. The 
farm of Thomas Rodgers, 2d (a nephew of the latter), partly 
eovers the estate formerly owned by James Resseguie, as also 
one of two lots owned then by John Craik and Walter Scott. 
The last named died here. He was the father-in-law of A. 
Waldie. 

John Craik was an intelligent Scotchman, whose disappoint- 
ment in the supposed attractions of the township did not drive 
him from it. He also died here ; and some of his family are still 
in the vicinity. 

North of these settlers was Dr. Charles W. Bankson, who came 
from Philadelphia. The house built by his widow was after- 
wards occupied as a dwelling and store by William Hewson, who 
had previously lived in "Richmond Castle;" and after he left it 
was occupied as a store by Joseph Stanley. Dr. B. practiced in 
Silver Lake a number of years. 

Dr. Emerson, also from Philadelphia, was probably the first 
physician here. He was located on the west side of the road. 

William Armstrong -settled just below T. Rogers, 1st. 

On the site of the present residence of A. B. Hill one Rum- 
ley, a tailor, lived; the house was afterwards burned. 

Samuel Hill lived near the corners, and had a fine flower 
garden a little further north, which gained a notoriety from its 
being a rare instance in which a busy farmer gave attention to 
anything but essentials. 

For many years the people worked hard at clearing their 
farms, or at their various trades, involving constant manual labor ; 
and, though many of them were men of intelligence, they paid 
little attention to, and thought less of the exterior graces either in 
their manners or surroundings. It must be conceded, however, 
that they possessed elements of character well adapted to cope 
with the difficulties inseparable from their position. Greater sen- 
sitiveness on their part would have induced them to return to 
their former homes, leaving to stronger nerves and resolution 
the conquest of a land now enjoyed by their posterity. Still, 
the early exodus of some of the British settlers was doubtless a 
positive loss to the social, if not the material interests of the 
country. 

Patrick Griffin and family were here as early as 1821, on the 
place afterwards owned by Mr. Main. Captain Gerald Griffin, 
his son, was a retired British officer, in England, on half pay, 
from whom the principal support of the family was at that time 
derived. They are remembered as possessing true gentility, and 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 457 

great loveliness of character. Patrick G., Jr., died in California 
in the fall of 1872. 

Edward White, a model Irish gentleman of the old-school, 
came in a little later than Mr. Griffin. " He had married the 
eldest sister of Gerald Griffin, on which occasion the joy-bells 
of Limerick were rung to honor the young bride and groom. 
This eminently worthy couple were the first apostles of the 
Catholic church in Susquehanna County, and the adjacent parts 
of New York State." 

James W. White, eldest son of Edward, was a lawyer, and 
afterwards Judge of the Superior Court of the City of New 
York. He has been styled " one of the noblest Irish-Americans 
of our times." 

The daughters of Edward W. were highly educated; and, a 
few years later, they established in Binghamton a boarding-school 
for young ladies, which was very successful. The institution was 
maintained until the death of Mrs. White, in 1851. 

The family was then broken up ; two of the daughters enter- 
ing nunneries. Edward W. died December, 1863. 

Henry and Sackville Cox, Irish gentlemen, married two 
daughters of Thomas Peironnet (English), of Friendsville. In 
1822 Sackville was in Silver Lake. 

The first Eoman Catholic priest in the county was Father 
Francis O'Flynn, of the order La Trappe, and of "noble descent." 
His sister, Mrs. Fitzgerald, a true lady, was with himself the 
center of a large circle of the cultivated and refined. Indeed, 
at no later period has a larger number of such persons resided 
in Silver Lake and vicinity. 

An agricultural society was formed in 1820. From the 
diary of Philip Griffith, now in the possession of his daughter, 
Mrs. J. S. Gage, we have a few items relative to affairs in the 
township at this early day, and among them mention of the 
introduction, by Dr. Rose, of large numbers of sheep into the 
township. On the 4th of July, 1832, Edward White and Philip 
Griffith brought to him one thousand three hundred and fifty- 
two sheep; in August of that year he had nearly two thousand — 
eleven of the number having that month been killed by wolves. 
At a later period he had five thousand sheep and numerous 
cattle. 

In 1834, Philip Griffith removed to the vicinity of Dr. Rose's 
residence, and kept the post-office accounts, and also those of the 
estate. A farm hand was then paid but fifty cents a day. In 
1836, oak plank was worth one cent per foot ; shingles, three 
dollars per one and a half thousand. 

The English had come and gone, when an experiment was 
made, about the year 1836, by Dr. Rose, to form a colony of 
colored farmers, but it failed. 



458 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Upon the completion of the Chenango Canal, and after suspen- 
sion of labor upon the North Branch, the Irish who had been 
employed in their construction were easily induced to purchase 
land and settle down as farmers ; and in general they have been 
very successful, many having arrived at competency, if not 
wealth. Were the roads of the township at all their earnest care, 
and kept like those of Jackson or Gibson, the farms of Silver 
Lake would not only appear to far greater advantage, but their 
value would be doubled. As it is, the difficulty of access gives 
to this section an appearance of dreariness, and the jaded traveler's 
aching bones make him wish himself well out of the township. 

One of the later colonists was Michael Ward, formerly of 
Longford County, Ireland. Joseph, his son, is the present jus- 
tice of the peace in Silver Lake. 

James McCormick, from Tipperary County, settled about forty 
years ago in the northwestern part of the township, near where 
J. McCormick, Jr., now lives. J. D. Murphy, James Foster, and 
Timothy Sweeney came soon afterwards. 

By degrees the descendants of the New England settlers left, 
and those of the Irish rapidly filled their places, until the latter 
are now a large majority of the population. In one school-dis- 
trict there is but one man of American parentage. 

The streams of the township are all small, the largest being 
only the outlets of the principal lakes. The latter were found 
bordered with the native laurel. Dr. Rose brought pickerel 
from Lathrop's to stock Silver Lake, and a few were put into 
Quaker or Derwent Lake. They ate the other fish — trout, bull- 
heads, etc. Two trout weighing together sixteen pounds, were 
once caught just at the outlet. Speckled trout are sometimes 
now found in Ranney Creek. 

The source of Silver Creek is in the lake of the same name, 
though it has a feeder in Cranberry Lake, in the same vicinity. 
In 1829, Dr. Rose constructed a stone-dam on this creek, not far 
from T. Holley's, remains of which can yet be seen. For some 
years a woolen factory was established there. "Snow Hollow" 
lies just east of it, through which the road continues to the salt 
spring in Franklin. Two or three families of the name of Snow 
resided there. 

In 1834, this section was the scene of a wolf hunt. At a later 
date even than this, the forests were not entirely deserted by 
deer which, in earlier times, had been abundant. From a news- 
paper of 1839, we learn that E. W. Rose, then a mere lad, shot 
a deer near the lake, which weighed 206 pounds. 

Beech, maple, and chestnut were on the ridges ; hemlock 
along the valleys ; the last is still abundant, though heavy drafts 
are made upon it. 

Thirty years ago a party of pedestrians, who started from 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 459 

Philadelphia, for Niagara, Williamsport, and Genesee Falls, gave 
to the ' Philadelphia Inquirer' a description of their tour, which 
was published by the editor, with some remarks of his own, 
descriptive of their return, from which we take the following: — 

" On entering again the wilds of Pennsylvania, they were startled and 
delighted with the appearance of Silver Lake — a scene which they describe 
to have been as beautiful, at that time, as the fabled island of Calypso. 
They reclined, for the purpose of taking their noon-day meal, under a grove 
of beech trees, and observed on the border of the lake a number of handsome 
buildings. While they were looking at them a gentleman (Dr. Rose), whose 
residence was in the midst, came forward, and in the most courteous manner 
invited our travelers to his hospitality. The invitation was accepted, and 
while they tarried there (three days), they were highly gratified not only 
with the scenery — the lake looking like a tranquil mirror bordered with a 
variety of verdure and foliage, alternated with rock and mountain — but with 
the curiosities and elegancies within ; such as urns from Thebes, platters 
from Herculaneum and Pompeii, statues and pictures, and a library of 4000 
volumes of the choicest literature." 

The enthusiasm exhibited in this fragment is not greater than 
that felt by the compiler on seeing Silver Lake for the first time, 
a few years later. The view was obtained from the east, and 
seemed like a glimpse of fairy-land. No less than nine marble 
statues ornamented the exterior of Dr. Rose's residence, which, 
in the engraving given in this work, are but indistinctly seen. 

These, with the turrets, and the delightful little summer- 
houses by the lake, which was environed by a path behind a 
screen of laurels, were novelties that needed not a lively imagi- 
nation to render them pleasing in the extreme. But its palmy 
days were over. The genius that had planned, and the hand 
of taste that had executed so much that combined to charm the 
eye and attract the soul, were then no more ; and desolate hearts 
took little note of neglected grounds, except to feel more keenly 
the loss they had suffered. 

Note. — The first engraving (a few pages preceding), shows the front of 
the house as originally built, or as it appeared in 1816. In the second 
engraving we see the rear of the same house with the extensive additions 
made to it of a later date. 

Dr. Rose died February 24th, 1842, in the 66th year of his 
age, leaving a widow, three sons, and four daughters. One of the 
latter married Mr. William Main, of New York. Thirty-five 
years ago he was residing at the northeast corner of Derwent 
Lake ; the road, since vacated, then passed his house, which is 
now occupied by Thomas Patton. At the time of the morus 
multicaulis mania he gave some attention to the cultivation of 
these trees and rearing of silkworms. Several attempts were 
made, but soon given up, by other parties. 

Another daughter became the wife of Rev. Francis D. Ladd, 
pastor at a later period of a church in Philadelphia. Mrs. L. 
and her husband died some years ago. Mrs. Rose died at Phila- 



460 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

delphia, in 1866. The oldest son, Edward W., resides upon the 
estate, his house commanding a fine view of the lake ; but 
neither this nor that of the late Andrew Eose, his brother, near 
it, are modeled in any respect after the paternal residence, which, 
to the great loss of the community as well as the family, then 
absent, was consumed by fire, together with its contents, April 
30th, 1849. 

In the early agitation of the subjects of temperance and anti- 
slavery, Silver Lake was alive and interested. A petition, signed 
by I. Gage and about twenty others of the township, was read by 
ex-president Adams in the United States House of Representa- 
tives. The correspondent of the 'New York Express' describes 
the scene : " Ears, eyes, and mouths were opened in astonish- 
ment, and the little monster was laid on the table without debate. 
Mr. Davis (Jeff. ?), attempted to revive his resolution, proposing 
that all anti-slavery petitions be laid upon the table without read- 
ing, without reference, and without debate. But it was no go." 

There are ten school-districts in the township. Joseph Gage, 
Sr., sold land to Gilbert Tompkins, of New York, which the 
latter sold, in 1848, to J. W. Brackney, from Prattsville, New 
York, who erected there an extensive tannery and a fine resi- 
dence. He drew about him a community of laborers whose 
dwellings formed a small village, called Brackney. A post- 
office is established here. The first grist-mill at this point was 
built for Mr. B, August, 1850. The business he pursued has 
since passed into other hands. 

But two of the first settlers of the township are living — Aba- 
gail, widow of Mortimer Gage, and Peter Soule. The last 
named is in Duanesburg, New York. Betsey, widow of Jacob 
Hoag, and Betsey, widow of John L. Minkler, both died recently. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The "Church of Christ in Silver Lake and Choconut" was 
organized February 16th, 1816, by Eev. E. Kingsbury, Rev. 
Oliver Hill, and John Thacher, council. The first communion 
service was held on the Sabbath following, at Dr. Rose's office. 
There were but seven constituent members ; four others were 
present who had not yet received letters of dismission from other 
churches. Persons proposed for admission to this church had to 
stand propounded four weeks, a rule applying to professors as 
well as others. This was pronounced " anti-presbyterial" years 
later, by the Rev. Daniel Deruelle. 

Prior to 1823 the Presbyterian (or Congregational) ministers 
who had preached here were, the Revs. E. Kingsbury, 0. Hill, 

M. M. York, G. N. Judd, King, and Enoch Conger. Only 

the last named appears to have been a stated supply ; the others 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 461 

came but semi-occasionally, to administer the Lord's Supper. 
During Mr. Conger's labors, on June 22d ; 1822, twenty-one per- 
sons were received into the church on profession of faith ; but 
with this addition the whole number of communicants, in 1823, 
was but thirty-one, and but twenty-nine the following year. A 
majority ■ of these resided in Choconut ; and to accommodate 
them the first church edifice was built on Choconut Creek. 

In 1S33, Rev. Mr. Smith was with them. Rev. Levi Griswold 
had preceded him ; and during the previous few years Rev. 
Burr Baldwin and Rev. Daniel Deruelle had preached here oc- 
casionally. Later, Rev. John Sherer supplied the pulpit fre- 
quently. Ephraim Strong, Daniel Chamberlin, Gordon Bliss, 
and Eben Griswold were deacons of this church. 

The last record concerning the old church was made March 
20th, 1837. Seventy-one members in all had been connected 
with it. 

The first Presbyterian church within the bounds of Silver 
Lake township was built in 1846, on a knoll sloping to the 
western shore of Mud Lake. 1 

Many of the community contributed liberally to swell the 
amount advanced for this purpose by Mrs. Rose and family. 

John Simpson, an upright man and earnest christian (in whose 
hands Dr. Rose at his death had left the management of his 
estate), had exerted himself to bring together the scattered mem- 
bers of the former church, and what Ephraim Strong had been 
to that, Mr. Simpson became to the new church — its pillar. He 
died November 8th, 1848, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. 

The church was re-organized March 21st, 1847, with the fol- 
lowing members : Mrs. Jane Rose and four daughters, John 
Simpson and wife, Henrietta Craik, W. Coon and wife, Eliza 
North, and one other whose name is unascertained. 

Rev. Francis D. Ladd was then the pastor of the church, and 
for several years afterward. Rev. Thomas Thomas was his suc- 
cessor. Rev. Mr. Palmer, of Broome County, N. Y., supplies the 
pulpit at present. Nathaniel H. Wakeley and Thomas Patton 
are the elders of the church. 

The Methodist society was organized as early as 1818, by 
Elder Griffin, but it soon declined, and was not revived until 
1831, at which time Elder Solon Stocking occasionally labored 
here. 

Rev. Charles Perkins and Rev. J. R. Boswell were here at 
" the time of the great reformation," in 1840 ; previous to which 
there were but seven members. The Griffith family were among 
the early members. 

1 Such a misnomer should no longer be allowed. Above the bridge a prettier 
Bheet of water is not to be found : why not revive the old name — Tenbury Lake ? 



462 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Elder Morgan Ruger, stationed at Brackney, died 1851. 

The church edifice was begun April, 1846, and was dedicated 
February, 1847. It is now some rods north of its first location, 
which was at the corners below Brackney. 

The first Roman Catholic chapel was built at the head of 
Ranney Creek, on land of Mr. Fitzgerald (a nephew of Father 
O'Flynn). It was the first of that denomination in the county. 

Fig. 24. 




R. C. CHAPEL OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



It was destroyed by fire April M, 1870 ; but a new structure 
already takes its place, of which we give an illustration. The 
first service was held in the new church on Christmas day of 1871. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 463 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

JACKSON. 

In 1814, on petition of John Hilborn and others, for a division 
of the original township of Harmony into two equal parts — six 
miles north and south, by nine miles east and west — the court 
appointed Asa Dimock, Philip J. Stewart, and John Kent, view- 
ers ; and their report, setting off the lower half as a new town- 
ship to be called Jackson, was accepted, and finally confirmed, 
December, 1815. A petition in May previous, asking to have it 
named Greenfield, was not granted, as the viewers failed to 
report. 

The hero of New Orleans might have been immortalized with- 
out the help of this new township; however, its few inhabitants 
chose to call it by his name, and not without some show of con- 
sistency, as his political principles were largely predominant for 
many years, within its bounds, though they are not inherited to 
any great extent by its present voters. 

During the war of the rebellion, Jackson contributed 114 vol- 
unteers for the Union army, a number of whom sacrificed their 
lives in the service. 

The area of Jackson was diminished exactly one-half by the 
erection of the eastern part into the township of Thomson. This, 
in turn, has been divided, the southern portion now being the 
northern part of Ararat; thus the farms of Hezekiah Bushnell 
and Nathaniel West, which are now in the latter township, were 
once in Thomson, and previous to that, in Jackson ; still earlier, 
when first occupied, the same farms were in Harmony. 

There are no hills of any very great elevation. The two 
highest points are in the northern part of the township ; their 
summits being not more than half a mile apart, and the Lenox 
and Harmony turnpike skirting their common base. That on 
the west side is called Mount Hope ; that on the east is known 
by the name of Hog- back. 

No stream courses the entire length of the township in any 
direction, though there are several of some note which " head" in 
the vicinity of these hills. First, the Canawacta, which first runs 
east, then northeast, then north, and finally northwest, and 
empties into the Susquehanna at Lanesboro. It is said a party 
of Indians, of the Conewaga tribe, were accustomed to hunt and 
fish in this vicinity, and that the creek took its name from this 



464 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTS 

circumstance. Second, Drinker Creek, which runs north, then 
northwest, and empties into the river at Susquehanna Depot. 
Third, Meadow-brook, which runs westerly, and empties into the 
Salt Lick near H. Burritt's store in New Milford. Fourth, the 
West Branch of the Tunkhannock, which runs through Burrows 
Hollow and thence through the east part of Harford. Fifth, the 
Middle Branch, which runs south, and after leaving Jackson runs 
through Gibson, etc., emptying into the Susquehanna at Tunk- 
hannock. It is thought a point might be found near the summit 
of Mount Hope from which a circle with a radius of one mile 
would include the heads of all these streams. Mitchell's Creek, 
and a smaller stream known to surveyors as " Third Eun," have 
their sources in the northwest corner of Jackson, and reach the 
river in Great Bend and Oakland. Butler Lake is the largest 
sheet of water in the township ; being half a mile wide, and more 
than a mile long. Its outlet joins Van Winkle's Creek near the 
western border of Gibson, and eventually enters the Tunkhan- 
nock. There was once a beaver-meadow which is now covered 
by a mill-pond east of Butler Lake. 

Beech, maple, and chestnut constitute the principal timber, as 
the pine and hemlock have been, in a great measure, transported 
to market. There were formerly noted yields of maple sugar. 
In early times, when farmers were clearing their farms, wheat 
was a pretty sure crop. Jairus Lamb then sowed two bushels of 
seed wheat which yielded, in one season, one hundred and five 
bushels — probably the largest crop ever raised from the same 
quantity of seed, in the county. Now, wheat does not do so well, 
and comparatively little is raised ; the attention of farmers being 
given principally to the making of butter, the good quality of 
which usually commands as good a price as that of any other 
township. With a dairy of seven cows, Oliver Clinton made 
and sold for the New York market in 1868, 1418 pounds of 
butter, netting $635. Besides the butter sold, 50 pounds were 
made for winter use, and a family of seven persons was also 
supplied with butter and milk during the season. 
* Large crops of vegetables are annually grown. In 1869, 
Charles T. Belcher raised seven and one-half bushels of Early 
Eose potatoes from seven seed potatoes, and from half a bushel 
of Harrison white potatoes he raised forty-five bushels. J. H. 
Lamb gathered, from less than two acres of ground, seventeen 
large wagon loads of pumpkins, nearly all of them being yellow 
and ripe. 

The township presents to the eye of the traveler a series of 
beautiful landscapes, which the smoothness of the roads permits 
him to enjoy undisturbed. Perhaps in all the county there are 
no better roads than those of this township ; the cross-roads even 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 465 

average better than the great thoroughfare — almost the only 
turnpike of the county that is kept in good repair. 

The old " Harmony Eoad" was laid out in 1812, from the Sus- 
quehanna River at Lanesboro, to Dimock's Corners in Herrick, 
where it intersected the Great Bend and Coshecton turnpike. 
The Jackson turnpike, or as it is known by its charter, the Lenox 
and Harmony turnpike, was laid out in 1836, from the Tunk- 
hannock Creek in Lenox, to the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro; 
and must intersect the old Harmony Road near the northern 
Methodist Episcopal church in Jackson. It was on this road, 
at a point about three miles north of this church, that Oliver 
Harper was shot. 

It is said there is not an acre of unseated land in the township. 

SETTLEMENT. 

The first clearing was made near the line of Gibson, as early 
as 1809, by two sons of George Gelatt, who had purchased just 
below the line himself; but all soon after sold out to Elkanah 
Tingley, and moved to what is now called Gelatt Hollow,, on the 
Tunkhannock Creek in Gibson. Mr. Tingley afterwards gave 
these lots to his sons Daniel and Milton, who lived here much 
respected by all, and here they died. Another clearing of ten 
acres was made very early by a man named Booth, who left for 
Connecticut after paying $20 on his contract, and never returned. 
For many years it was called "the Yankee lot." It adjoined 
that of Obed Nye. George Gelatt, Jr., probably built the first 
house (of logs) in Jackson, but he had moved away prior to the 
arrival of the first actual settlers — David and Jonathan Bryant r 
Jairus Lamb and Uriah Thayer. They came together from Ver- 
mont in the spring of 1812, and in the fall returned to spend the 
winter. Early in 1813 they again came prepared to make a 
permanent home in Jackson (then Harmony). 

In addition to the above-mentioned settlers, Hosea Benson,, 
from New Hampshire, and Daniel Tingley, were in Jackson pre- 
vious to the arrival, on December 20th, 1814, of Stephen Tucker 
and Joseph Bryant. Mr. Tucker was then in his twenty-first 
and Mr. Bryant in his eighteenth year, and both had walked 
from Vermont to seek their fortunes in a new country. Major 
Joel Lamb (father of Jairus), Martin Hall, Captain Levi Page r 
and Moses B. Wheaton came from Vermont, February, 1815. 
Major Lamb took up a large tract of land. The first season, he- 
cleared and put into wheat twenty-five acres. His family re- 
mained for some time at the old "Skyrin House," in Gibson 
Hollow. Daniel Chase, a Free-will Baptist elder, and his son, 
John, with their families, came in 1816. In September of that 
year, Joseph and Ichabod Powers, sons of Hazard P. of Gibson, 
30 



466 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

each selected a lot, cleared some land, and built a log-cabin. 
Ichabod soon after sold his improvement to his brother, and left 
the township. Joseph then occupied it, and sold his first clearing 
to I. Hill. 

Joseph P. married, in June 1816, Eunice, daughter of Jonathan 
Moxley, of New Milford. She died August, 1863, in her seventy- 
third year, and Mr. P. in April, 1864, aged nearly seventy-five 
years. About two-thirds of his life were spent in Jackson. 

Ichabod and Ephraim Hill, Calvin Corse, Nathaniel Norris, 
and Obed Nye were here in 1816 ; in 1817, Asa Hall, Eussel 
and Torrey Whitney ; in 1818, Pelatiah Gunnison ; in 1820, 
Henry Perry ; in 1822, Judah and John S. Savory ; in 1826, 
Reuben Harris; and in 1828, Wm. H. Bartlett. 

About forty families followed Mr. Bartlett from Vermont, and, 
indeed, the most of the settlers who preceded him were from the 
same State. They liked the country because it resembled the 
one they had left. The locality was, for a long time, known as 
"The Vermont Settlement," and as early as 1817 it was thus 
designated on the court records, when a road was laid out to it 
from Ararat, which, too, was then only a settlement. 

Ephraim Hill, 1 Stephen Tucker, David Bryant, Captain Levi 
Page, Martin Hall, Obed Nye, and Job Benson are the oldest 
men of the earlier settlers now living in Jackson. The only sur- 
vivors among the women are Mrs. David Bryant and the widow 
of Moses B. Wheaton. Mrs. Wheaton has been the mother of 
fourteen children, twelve of whom are still living. Mrs. Stephen 
Tucker died April 5, 1871, aged nearly seventy-eight years. 
She was married February, 1816, in Vermont, and the summer 
following settled on the farm in Jackson, where she died. "As 
one of the early pioneers, she bore an honorable and useful part, 
rearing nine children to maturity, eight of them being still alive. 
She united with the Gibson and Jackson Baptist church at an 
early day, and was a quiet but stable member." 

Daniel Tingley was the first man married while a resident of 
the township. Jairus Lamb married in Vermont before return- 
ing to Pennsylvania in 1813, and commenced housekeeping at 
Captain Potter's in Gibson, and lived there until a house was 
made ready for him in Jackson. 

Mr. Lamb built the first framed-house early in 1814; in what 
is now Jackson ; having previously lived a short time in a log- 
house with David Bryant. He has probably built and occupied 
more houses than any other man in the county ; in Jackson he 
has built seven ; in Thomson, two ; in Alleghany County, N. Y., 
two; and in New Milford, one; all occupied by himself and 
family. He has also built, for his own use, nine barns, two pot- 

1 Since deceased, at the age of ninety-one years. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 467 

asheries, and one blacksmith shop; and in company with Russel 
Whitney, he built the first saw-mill in Jackson ; drawing the 
plank for the floors four miles through the woods, from Burrows' 
Hollow. He made the shingles for all the houses himself. 

Major Joel Lamb, his father, who came in later, was uncom 
monly large in stature and breadth, measuring two feet across 
the shoulders ; and " made large tracks." On one occasion he 
walked to Philadelphia (carrying his shoes in his hands) to see 
the land-agent, with whom he contracted for four hundred acres 
of land. A person following him was attracted by the large 
footprints, and expressed his astonishment to a bar-room crowd, 
asking if any one had seen a giant. No one being prepared to 
answer the question, the major, who was in the room, rose in his 
dignity and thus gave him the desired information. But, if rude 
in exterior, at heart he was a gentleman. Enterprising and intel 
ligent, he possessed the ability to command. His physical 
strength made him "worth half-a-dozen common men at a log- 
raising," and as assistants were few, his aid was always in demand ; 
and his voice and example would nerve others to bring up the 
heaviest log to its place. 

Moses B. Wheaton came into Jackson with $400 in silver — a 
"big thing" at that time — but did not go into business for a year 
or two, and had finally to begin empty-handed like the rest. For 
many years after not one had secured money enough to pay for 
his land, and consequently all entered into contracts for future 
payments. At the expiration of four or five years the land- 
owners added principal and interest together, and secured them- 
selves by a judgment bond and mortgage on each farm. This 
was a great shock to the settlers, but it served as a spur to their 
ambition; for though some felt at times as if they never could 
pay the amount required — so little market had they for their 
produce — they have paid it; and, in every instance, except one, 
have paid three or four times the original price of their farms, 
so long a time had elapsed before the final payment. Most of 
the early settlers were short of provisions, and gave their labor 
for supplies. In this way the farms were rapidly cleared. One 
of them says "we had no privations as a general thing. By the 
sweat of the brow we had enough to eat and to wear ; but the 
most trouble we had was to sell our surplus for a reasonable 
compensation. Sometimes, when the lumbermen on the Dela- 
ware were successful, they would take whatever we had to 
spare." The Delaware and Hudson Canal revived the market 
considerably, and now Jackson is within two days of New 
York. 

There are no very wealthy men in the township, but there are 
few who are not " well oft" or independent. The inhabitants are, 
mostly, agriculturists, temperate and industrious. 



468 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Eaising less wheat than formerly, they make good crops of 
corn, rye, oats, and buckwheat; but the year after Jairus Lamb 
came in he sowed a peck of buckwheat and reaped only a peck. 
The raising of stock receives considerable attention. 

In the early years of the settlement wolves made havoc among 
the young cattle and sheep, unless they were closely yarded at 
night. As late as 1827 sheep were killed by them on the pres- 
ent site of the Methodist church at Jackson Center. Bears were 
few, but deer were plenty. David Bryant killed one thousand 
deer during twelve years. The writer heard him say that he has 
killed three before breakfast ; one time he shot at five, and killed 
three with the one shot. This was no empty boast, but can be 
testified to by reliable parties. He was the " mighty hunter" of 
Jackson. 

On the fourth of July, 1812, with three other men (every 
man then in the township) he went to Butler Lake to hunt deer. 
The day was warm, and the deer were cooling themselves in the 
water. "The shore was red with them." The hunters agreed to 
station themselves at different points around the lake, and the 
man who had the greatest distance to go should be the first to 
shoot, lest the deer should be disturbed before they were all 
ready. So well was this plan carried out that they found and 
dressed eleven of those they killed. Crops were often injured 
by the deer; they ate the wheat-heads, beans, and buckwheat. 

A sister of David Bryant, Mrs. Jairus Lamb (mother of Rus- 
sel B. Lamb), was the first woman buried in Jackson. The first 
child born in the town was Sophia, daughter of Hosea Benson. 

The first school-house was built at the Center (Moses B. Whea- 
ton, teacher), but not until 1820, as previous to this there were 
no children of a suitable age to attend school. The school-houses 
of Jackson are now referred to as models to be imitated by other 
townships. 

In 1868, descendants of Martin and Asa Hall, and Jairus 
Lamb (who had married a sister of the Halls), to the number of 
eighty were present at a picnic in the town; and there were at 
least seventy-five more of them in other parts of the country. 

William H. Bartlett, formerly a justice of the peace in Jack- 
son, now living in Susquehanna Depot, in his seventy-second 
year, is able to say what cannot probably be said by any other 
man of his age, that he has never been confined to the house by 
sickness a day in his life. This is an evidence not only of the 
strength of his constitution, but also of the healthiness of the 
township. 

It is written in the Psalms, "A man was famous according as 
he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees ;" and in this respect 
it may be said of Mr. Bartlett that he " was famous," having 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 469 

cleared of his own one "hundred and thirty acres of timber, and 
in addition numerous smaller patches for others. 

The houses of the early time were poorly lighted. In R. Harris' 
cabin, a chink in the wall was its only window, the panes being 
irregular bits of glass fitted in as well as they could be, and in 
dark weather it was necessary to light a candle to do the washing. 

Mrs. Harris was the first milliner in Jackson. Previous to 
her coming, it was in style for the women to tie a pockethand- 
kerchief over their heads in going "to meeting;" but the airy 
"calash" soon supplanted that simple "tiring of the head," to 
which perforce they had been accustomed ; and soon after that 
the large " Leghorn flat," with its wreaths and ribbons, found its 
way into the neighborhood. 

Until Dr. Wheaton settled here, about sixteen years ago, there 
was no physician established in the township, though there were 
"comers and goers." Dr. Streeter, of Harford, or Mrs. Mercy 
Tyler, of Ararat, being depended upon in cases of emergency, 
all ordinary sicknesses were made to yield to careful nursing, 
and the use of simples. The medicinal plant of ginseng is found 
in abundance. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The first sermons heard in Jackson were those of Elder 
Nathaniel Lewis, a Methodist. It is said that he did not appear 
to be a man like Paul, " brought up at the feet of Gamaliel," though, 
doubtless, he was a good man. Whatever his text might be, after 
a short introduction, to fight fatalism, was always the subject 
and object of his discourse. 

Elder Elijah Peck, from Mt. Pleasant; Rev. E. Kingsbury, 
" a fatherly Presbyterian ;" George Peck, D.D., Asa Dodge, and 
Elder Agard were among the early preachers, and all left a fra- 
grant memory. A " Free-will" Baptist society was organized in 
1822, under the influence of Elder Daniel Chase; Martin Hall, 
and Nathaniel Norris being chosen deacons. The strict Baptist 
society of Jackson and Gibson was organized in 1825, and a 
Congregational society in 1837. The latter is now very feeble. 
The strict Baptist is the strongest church. The Congregation- 
alists united with the Free-will Baptists in building a church, in 
1838, two miles north of Jackson Center (as it is called, though 
near the south line of the township). The Methodists have a 
church a little further north, as well as one at the Center, where 
also the strict Baptists erecte done in 1842. Stephen Tucker 
built the latter, after procuring subscriptions amounting to more 
than $1000 in cash. Elders G. W. Leonard, J. Parker, D. D. 
Gray, J. B. Worden, Lamb, and Slaysman, have all been success- 
ful preachers in this church; and, as its minutes testify, it has as 
much religious vitality and enterprise, according to its numbers 



470 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

as any church in the association. It was dismissed in 1828 
from the Abington to unite with the Bridgewater association. 
About 1830, a Bible society was formed, and also a temperance 
society. Indeed, temperance and a good degree of religious 
sentiment have a strong hold among the people of Jackson. 
The churches are all supplied with pastors. 

Deacon Daniel Tingley, of the Baptist church, " was truly a 
man of God, ever ready to take an active part in meetings, and 
ever kind to those in need of help. He lived and died at his 
post, respected by saint and sinner." 

TOWNSHIP OFFICERS, ETC. ETC. 

Jackson was not fully organized with township officers until 
1816, when it appears the first officers were: constable, Moses 
B. Wheaton; supervisors, Hezekiah Bushnell and Martin Hall; 
and overseers of the poor, Jairus Lamb and Nathaniel West. 
There is no record of a town clerk, until 1820, when Joel Hall 
(a brother of Martin, and who came in later) served in that 
capacity. Pelatiah Gunnison was first justice of the peace. In 
1838, a post-office, named Barryville, was established ; this name 
was changed in 1836 to Jackson, upon the erection of the town- 
ship of Thomson ; though previously there had been a post-office 
of that name at what is now Thomson Center. 

In military matters, Captains David Bryant and Nelson French, 
of the rifle company, were prominent. Major Lamb's title was 
acquired before coming to this section. 

A bedstead manufactory was among the enterprises of the 
past, and which, for several years, sent off extensive supplies. 

At present there is a pail factory at the sources of the Tunkhan- 
nock and Canawacta Creeks, and a grist-mill and a saw-mill (S. 
Tucker's) just below. There are five saw-mills — two of which 
are on Drinker Creek, one at the outlet of Butler Lake, and 
another at Beaver Dam, or "Little Butler," and two grist-mills 
in the township. Two stores, one grocery, and one hotel accom- 
modate the public. 

At Savory's Corners, there is a store kept by Norris & French, 
a blacksmith's shop by J. Aldrich, two wagon shops near at 
hand, and a saw-mill owned by C. D. Hill. 

On the morning of July 4, 1870, the citizens assembled at 
Savory's Corners, bringing ropes, tackle, etc., for the purpose of 
raising a flag. At 12 o'clock it floated on the breeze nearly one 
hundred feet above the ground. It was hoisted by Billings 
Burdick, Nathaniel Norris, Calvin Corse, and Martin Hall, sol- 
diers of 1812. 

This locality took its name from Mr. John S. Savory, who died 
in Jackson, Sept. 25, 1867, aged 80 years. 

Jackson Center, or "Jackson Corners," is situated on the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 471 

Lenox and Harmony turnpike, eight miles south of Susquehanna 
Depot, and contains something less than fifty dwellings, wagon, 
blacksmith, and harness shops, two tailor shops, a school- ho use, 
two churches, a dry goods and general finding store, a drug and 
variety store, an M.D.'s office, a large hall, a boot and shoe shop, 
a hotel, two slaughter houses, and a grist and saw-mill, running 
on full time. . 

A stave machine (horse-power), invented by Hosea Benson, is 
worthy of mention. It can be used with water or steam. The 
" Dresser and Joiner" has been added by his son, L. C. Benson, 
and is patented. An indicating attachment to weighing scales 
has been patented by Win. F. Sweet. 

SKETCH OF ELDER J. B. WORDEN. 

BY HIS SON. 

Jesse Babcock Worden was the youngest of nine children of Deacon 
John and Elizabeth [Babcock] Worden. He was born 18th July, 1787, in 
Richmond, Washington County, Rhode Island. Surviving companions of 
his youth describe him as noted for his robust health, strength, athletic exer- 
cises, and innocent social jovialty. But there was no neighborhood school, 
and he did not master the alphabet until twelve years of age. At that 
period, however, he took hold of books, became a proficient in all the ele- 
ments of useful knowledge, and taught several schools when in his teens, 
in Rhode Island, and Southeastern Connecticut. 

While living in Plainfield, Otsego County, New York, he was drafted, and 
in September, 1812, entered the United States service as sergeant major 
in Col. F. Stranahan's regiment under Gen. S. Van Rensselaer. The day 
after the battle of Queenstown, he was deputed to act as quartermaster, 
and soon received a brevet commission from Gov. Tompkins. At the dis- 
banding of the militia, he enlisted, and served as lieutenant under Col. H. 
W. Dobbin, Gen. D. Miller, until that force was discharged. 

Entering into mercantile business at Sangerfield, Oneida County, he there 
married (26th December, 1813) Hannah Norton, daughter of Deacon Oliver 
and Martha [Beach] Norton. He was prospered in his vocation until the 
disasters at the close of the war, which involved him and many others in 
financial ruin. In after life, with aid from the small salary of a pasto'r, he 
was enabled to discharge his liabilities. 

His parents were eminently pious people, whose good examples were 
never lost upon his mind. And yet, when upon the early death of his 
father, he sought employment elsewhere, and fell into the friendly com- 
pany of subtle, but respectable infidels, he too became a sceptic, though 
never a scoffer. 

During a gracious revival in New Woodstock, Madison County, he was 
converted, and with his wife, was baptized by Elder John Peck in October, 
1816. Not long after he was licensed to preach ; and in 1818, was invited 
to supply the First Baptist Church, South Marcellus, Onondago County, 
and in March, 1819, in his 32d year, was ordained. There, for upwards of 
sixteen years, he thorqughly performed the. duties of pastor and missionary — 
bishop and itinerant. His baptisms averaged twenty per year, in an agri- 
cultural community, and the church had increased to 270 members. He 
was also commissioned by the Baptist State Convention to take preaching 
tours in Western New York, in Ohio, and in the newer settled counties of 
Northern Pennsylvania. 

His first visit here commenced in July, and ended in September, 1825, 
covering eight weeks of time, during which he preached often, at various 



472 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

points in Susquehanna County and west of the river in Luzerne. He also 
missionated here in 1826. 

Early in 1835 he bade adieu to his deeply-attached people in New York, 
in obedience to what he concluded was duty, and accepted a call to be joint 
pastor with the venerable Davis Dimock, of the Bridgewater church, at 
Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. This relation continued 
three years, when Eld. Dimock accepted a call from Braintrim church. 
From 1838 to 1844, Eld. Worden was sole pastor at Montrose. During 
those six years he had the privilege of baptizing, on an average, over forty 
per year. He also had some trials resulting from his public opposition to 
slavery and Millerism. 

In 1844, he left a church of 449 members, and labored, as his waning 
strength enabled him, with the smaller body at Jackson, Susquehanna 
County, and in neighboring fields. In his last year's connection with this 
people, at his request, Nathan Callender was his co-pastor, and has paid 
his memory a friendly tribute in the Baptist volume of Sprague's 'Annals of 
the American Pulpit.' In 1853, Roswell C Lamb became sole pastor of 
the church. 

Thus closed nearly twenty years of official care of churches in this county. 
Eld. Worden, however, continued preaching, when able, in destitute places, 
and on special occasions. His last sermon was delivered in Jackson, in the 
absence of the pastor, 2d Sabbath in July, 1855. On the 6th of August, 
1855, he entered into rest, in the 69th year of his age. 

His aged friend and brother in the ministry, Henry Curtis, preached the 
funeral sermon from 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8: "I have fought a good fight," etc. 
The sermon was published, and to it, and to the memorial of Eld. Callender. 
before named, the reader is referred for their estimates of his character, 
attainments, and labors. I may be permitted to add that I never knew a 
man of more sterling integrity, of more frankness or true friendliness, or 
who bore with greater equanimity the many hardships, vexations, and mis- 
apprehensions common to all, but especially the portion of the faithful pro- 
claimer of the Word of the Almighty God. But he endured as seeing Him 
who is invisible, and, though dead, he yet speaks to many who heard his 
earnest exhortations while living. 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

ARARAT. 

The township of Ararat was erected from parts of Herrick, 
Thomson, and Gibson, by decree of court, in August, 1852. 
Eleven years later a change was made in the boundary line be- 
tween it and Jackson, about the same angle being added to the 
latter township in the north part of the line, that is given to 
Ararat in the south part. This now follows nearly the direction 
of the Tunkhannock Creek in that section. [The county map 
accompanying this book shows the true line as corrected since 
the late atlas was published.] The township, in its greatest width 
and length, is about five miles on the west and through the 
center, by four on the north, south, and east. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 473 

There are residents of the township who have always occupied 
the same farms, and yet have lived in four townships — Harmony, 
Jackson, Thomson, and Ararat; or, Clifford, Gibson, Herrick, 
and Ararat; as at the time of its first settlement, it was included 
in Harmony, and Clifford, Luzerne County. The line between 
these two townships was afterwards that between Thomson and 
Herrick, which for some distance is the road running east and 
west, and crossing the Jefferson Railroad at the Summit. 

Although the Summit is said to be 2040 feet above the level 
of tide- water, and the township has been happily styled the ob- 
servatory of the county, yet it is considered, by those most 
familiar with it, as the most level of all our townships; being in 
fact a broad table-land with an abrupt descent only on the west. 
The ascent from Gelatt Hollow on the Tunkhannock Creek, 
may well confirm the general impression that this is the veritable 
Mt. Ararat which first gave name to the settlement, then to the 
church, and years afterwards to the township itself; but, in fact, 
that mountain is east of Lackawanna Creek, near its source, and 
just within the border of Wayne County. Still, as is seen by 
the map of old Luzerne accompanying this work, it is evident 
that " Mountain Ararat" was once the name applied to the whole 
Moosic range from below the line of Susquehanna County 
upward. 

Jacob S. Davis, Esq., who constructed the township maps of 
Wayne County in 1825, then said : — 

•' Beyond the Moosic Mountain (which subsides in Mt. Pleasant township), 
rises Mount Ararat, which reaches a short distance into Preston township, 
and is about of the same height as the Moosic." 

A gentleman residing in the vicinity, in reference to this, 
says : — 

" It is apparent that Mt. Ararat is much higher than the railroad summit 
in the township of Ararat, from the fact that the mountain is seen from Mont- 
rose and many other places that are below the said summit. Even when 
people think they are ' level,' they overlook this table-land and see Mount 
Ararat and 'Sugar Loaf.'" [The latter peak slopes to the shore of Mud 
Pond in Wayne County.] 

The boundary line between the township and Wayne County 
is the base of the Moosic (or perhaps more properly, Ararat) 
Mountain on the west side, along which flows the Lackawanna. 
One of its sources — Long Pond (Dunn's) — empties into Mud 
Pond near the county line, and affords at the outlet of the latter 
a water power among the best in Northern Pennsylvania. The 
other beautiful lakes of the township — Fiddle Lake (so called 
from its fancied resemblance to a violin), and Ball's Pond — fur- 
nishing tributaries to the main stream, and need, too, only capital 
and enterprise to make them of great value to the surrounding 
country. 



474 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Although there is still a large amount of untilled land in 
Ararat, yet there are probably not 100 acres untillable, or that 
cannot be made remunerative to the possessor. The Jefferson 
Kailroad 1 (for which ground was broken May, 1869), passes 
through the township near its center, and opens up its wildest 
parts to the admiring criticism of those who have heard it be- 
rated as the region of perpetual snows on towering hills, and 
where furious blasts make winter hideous. True, spring usually 
opens late ; but summer lingers ; the frosts not appearing until 
at least a fortnight after they have settled in the valley below ; 
and "the towering hills" — where are they, but as united to form 
the eastern bound of the same? From their battlements one 
beholds a prospect that amply repays the toilsome ascent. Parts 
of no less than twelve townships are readily recognized. By the 
aid of a glass, two churches in Gibson, the orphans' school build- 
ings in Harford, and even " Woodbourne" appear in distinct 
outline. From " the Summit," about a mile east of the brow of 
this table-land, the eye sweeps a circuit of nearly one hundred 
and fifty miles on the horizon, beginning at a patch of blue hills 
beyond the Susquehanna Eiver at Lanesboro, and reaching to 
Bald Mountain on this side the river at Pittston. A glance 
takes in nearly the whole extent of the most northern township 
of Luzerne County, as it was in 1790, from Sugar Loaf on the 
right to Mt. Pisgah in Bradford County on the left. The smoke 
of a locomotive on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western 
Bailroad remains in sight an hour, under certain conditions of 
the atmosphere. In 1830, Mrs. Tyler saw distinctly forty fallows 
burning ; the air then being clear, the smoke from each one rose 
up straight, though soon after all blended together in one haze. 
This occurred twenty years after the smoke of the first lone 
clearing issued from these forests. 

John Tyler, of Plarford, had used the peak in Wayne County 
as a guide when he left that town to take up his abode in the 
forest " towards Ararat." This expression, by a not unusual 
process, became in the minds of others " to Ararat ;" and cer- 
tainly, the locality he selected did not belie in natural features 
its namesake of Noah's time. 

A grandson of his describes it as " a lofty table-land, which 
from its commanding elevation was called by him and has ever 
since borne the name of ' Ararat.' " 

Mr. Tyler (more commonly called Deacon T.), as agent for 
Henry Drinker, had received from him a farm here of his own 
choosing; with the understanding that he should settle on it and 

1 Extensive slides have occurred on this road near the Summit, where there 
is a deep and extensive " cut." A bog or marsh, over which the rails were first 
laid, has also given much trouble to the company, and occasioned the con- 
struction of a long tressle-bridge at this point, not far from Summit Station. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 475 

induce others to purchase Mr. D.'s lands in the vicinity. These 
were advertised by handbills 1 and otherwise, as being "an ex- 
tensive tract situate in Luzerne County, near the line of "Wayne 
County, on the headwaters of Tunkhannock and Lackawannock 
Creeks, Pennsylvania;" it had been "carefully re-surveyed, and 
divided into lots of 100 acres each, and with little exception, 
found to be of superior quality ; producing a growth of beech, 
sugar tree, hemlock, birch, white and black ash, cherry, chestnut, 
and white pine; abounding with nettles, ginseng, and other 
herbage, sure indications of a luxuriant soil, well watered with 
springs and numerous lively streams." 

In the spring of 1810, John T. with his son Jabez and a hired 
man, had arrived at his place and were erecting a framed-house ; 
but before it was occupied by his family, Truman Clinton and 
Hezekiah Bushnell came with their families, and the cabin of 
the former, on the farm now owned by D. Avery, was erected 
and occupied. 

A granddaughter of Deacon Tyler, Miss Lucinda Carpenter 
(afterwards Mrs. David Avery), was the first female who passed 
a night in the township — she came to cook for her grandfather 
while he raised his house. Later, when he brought in his family, 
she came with them and remained. She was the first school- 
teacher in Ararat, and taught in a log school-house nearly oppo- 
site the Congregational church. 

The previous fall, Mr. Bushnell and Joshua Clark, of Lebanon, 
New London County, Connecticut, came to Ararat — then Har- 
mony, Luzerne County, and each having purchased a lot of land, 
returned to Connecticut. Early in 1810, Mr. Bushnell, with his 
wife, two children, and a hired man, left his native town, with 
all its comforts and endearments, for the trials of pioneer life. 
The privations and hardships endured by the men and women 
of that time cannot be fully realized by those who reap the bene- 
fits of their sacrifices and toils. The party, after a tedious 
journey in a heavy double wagon, arrived at Asahel Gregory's 
(in what is now Herrick — then Clifford), the 10th day of March. 
From that point a road had been surveyed to the Susquehanna 
River at Lanesboro, but as it was not opened, Mr. B. secured an 
upper room for his family, and then proceeded with his assistant 
to the place selected, and rolled up a log house. He had ex- 
pected the road would be open by the time he returned, but, 
disappointed in that, he took his family to Gibson, and thence by 
a road cut by Deacon T., and they reached his house the last of 

1 One of these, yellowed by sixty years, lies before the writer. Though 
printed in Philadelphia, the quality of paper as well as type compare but 
poorly with the issues of the present country press. The " tract" must have 
reached to Harford, as "a house of worship and several grist and saw-mills" 
were even then on the lands. 



476 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

April. It was only just boarded, and there was no fireplace — 
the cooking for the deacon and his hired man being done by a 
log-heap outside. Here the emigrants were sheltered until the 
remaining mile of their road could be improved, as well as Mr. 
Bushnell's cabin. Within ten days of their arrival, their oldest 
child, a daughter of four years, died ; and her funeral, attended 
only by laymen, was the first religious service in the new settle- 
ment. Several weeks elapsed before the bereaved parents took 
up their abode in their own house, and then it had but one board 
on it — a part of their wagon-box — the bark roof was incomplete, 
and a blanket served the place of a door, while the floor was of 
split logs, and the fireplace was only large stones set against the 
log wall. Thus they lived until October, when a few boards 
were procured from a saw-mill in Harford, the gable-ends of the 
house were boarded up, and a door was made. About this time 
their second daughter was born — the first birth in the settlement. 
There were then but three women in the township, viz., Mrs. 
Tyler, Mrs. Clinton, and Mrs. Bushnell. Directly east to the 
Delaware River it was fifteen miles, and to the Susquehanna at 
Lanesboro ten miles; and in either direction there was not a 
single cabin between. Five miles south of the settlement was 
the house of Esq. Gregory. 

Mrs. Bushnell and Mrs. Tyler had frequently to go to Lanes- 
boro on horseback with babes in their arms for the grists, while 
their husbands were busy in the field. 

Mr. B. died Nov. 4, 1851, in his 70th year; his wife died 
eighteen months later. They had four sons and one daughter. 

As Deacon John Tyler and wife have had previous mention 
as being among the first settlers of Harford, we will only add 
here the following : — 

Mrs. Mercy Tyler was "a remarkable woman in many respects. 
Combining mental as well as physical force, she was the right 
kind of woman to be a pioneer ; ready for any emergency, she 
could, if necessary, roll logs, drive team, spin, weave, cook, or do 
anything which would promote the interests of her own family or 
of others. As a Christian she was equally efficient, and those 
mothers in Israel who adopt St. Paul's views on the woman 
question, admit that she was an exception — one that could talk 
in meeting to the edification and profit of both sexes. So often 
did she ride to and from Harford with heavy luggage, such as 
a dye-tub, a big brass kettle, etc., that it was said of her, " she 
brought her loom on horseback, in her lap, with her grand- 
daughter in it weaving!" 

No inclemency of the weather ever prevented her prompt 
attention to the calls of the sick. Often, after the labors of the 
day, would she spend hours of the night on horseback and alone, 
tracing the rough and winding paths which led through the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 477 

forests, to render the medical assistance so extensively sought. 
At the time of her death, in 1835, when she was 83 years old, 
she had six children, forty grandchildren, and seventy-four 
great-grandchildren. Her youngest son, Jabez, found his home 
in, and was identified with the interests of Ararat from 1810 to 
his death in 1864. He was born in Mass., and was but seven 
years old when his parents came, in 1794, to Harford. He had 
eight children, of whom four lived to manhood, and two reside 
on the farm he formerly occupied. His widow, a daughter of 
Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, survives him. 

Nathaniel West came from Dutchess Co., N. Y., early in April, 
1810, with his ax upon his shoulder his only stock and capital in 
trade, and located fifty acres of land, a part of the farm on which 
he resides, which consisted, before parcelling out to his sons and 
otherwise, of 220 acres of valuable land brought under cultiva- 
tion by his own diligence and hard labor. 

His homestead has been located in two different counties and 
four different towns since he has lived on it. [The act of legis- 
lature separating Susquehanna from Luzerne was in reality passed 
before Mr. West came here ; but, to all practical purposes he was 
in Luzerne until the fall of 1812.] " He is the only one now 
living of the first adult settlers of Ararat. At the age of 82, he 
is able to jump up and ' crack' his feet twice before touching the 
floor. He has the health and vivacity of youth, enhanced by a 
long life of regular and temperate habits and untiring industry." 

He was justice of the peace for Thomson for five years, and 
county commissioner for three years. 

Whipple Tarbox came in with Mr. West and commenced 
chopping, but neither brought his wife until 1812. 

Joshua Clark, with his son Jacob, and John Snow, a hired man, 
came in the same year, and made some improvement — a require- 
ment of the contract with the Drinkers. The elder Clark did 
not settle, but the son came not long after, and remained on their 
purchase. John Snow brought his wife in 1814. 

Shubael Williams, with his wife and one child, came from 
Lebanon, Connecticut, Sept. 1812, and settled on a part of Joshua 
Clark's purchase. He and his wife were of the number who first 
united to sustain the Gospel here, and for over fifty years nearly 
every Sabbath found him in his seat at church. He lived for 
fifty-five years on the same place where he died May 14, 1867, 
in the 85th year of his age. He gave his first presidential vote 
for Thomas Jefferson, his last for Abraham Lincoln. His widow 
died in Ararat Oct. 10, 1871. 

James Cook, a native of Rhode Island, came in 1812, and 
attended the first court held in Montrose. 

David Avery, born in Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y., came in 
1814. He soon after married, and settled on the place where he 



478 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

died Jan. 6, 1872, in the 77th year of his age. For upwards of 
fifty years he was connected with the Congregational church at 
Ararat. He left a widow and eight children. 

Wareham B. Walker, a soldier of 1812, came from Ashford, 
Windham County, Connecticut, Dec. 1814, in company with 
Elias Scarborough, and purchased the land he now lives on. 
Mr. S. took up the lot south of it, which is now occupied by 
Chauncey Barnes. They returned to Connecticut in the fall of 
1815, and came back accompanied by Ezra, brother of W. B. 
Walker. The latter taught in Burrows Hollow that winter. 
He remained and cleared three acres of land, which he sowed 
with rye. 

In the spring of 1816, Chester Scarborough came from Con- 
necticut, and bought of Truman Clinton the farm lately occu- 
pied by David Avery, and remained until July, when he and 
Mr. Walker returned to Connecticut. Mr. Walker then mar- 
ried Miss Hannah Scarborough of Ashford. Chester S. had a 
wife (Anna) and two daughters. In Sept. following, the party 
came back to Pennsylvania with, an ox team, occupying eleven 
days on the journey. 

Mr. Walker has always lived on the same farm, and, like Mr. 
West, in several townships. Of the time when he brought his 
wife here, his daughter says: — 

" When mother was alone, and there was no noise in the 
house, the deer would come and feed under the window. A 
white deer was seen about here the first winter. One night the 
wolves came within a few rods of the house, and killed fifteen 
or twenty sheep. Bears and panthers were here." 

Shubael A. Baldwin and Martha his wife came in 1816, from 
Mansfield, Windham County, Connecticut. The former died 
here Feb. 1871, aged 79 years and 4 months ; the latter Oct. 
1871, aged 79 years. 

Philip T. and Silas S. Baldwin came from Lebanon, Windham 
County, Connecticut, in 1816. 

Freeman Peck commenced on a lot south of John Tyler's ; but 
the exact date of his coming in is not given ; so also of the fol- 
lowing who came early: Daniel and David Burgess, John Doyle, 
Merrit, David, and Eneas Hine. 

In 1817, Timothy J. Simonds and Zaccheus Toby moved from 
Mt. Pleasant, Wayne County, into the southeast part of the 
township, and commenced what has since been called " Simonds 
settlement." 

James Dunn, a Scotchman, came from Delaware County, N. Y., 
in the fall of 1821, with two sons, Bobert and John. They 
wintered in a rude cabin. The following spring his wife and 
nine more children came, and they moved into a log house at 
the head of Dunn's Pond, three miles from the "Ararat settle- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY". 479 

merit." Here, remote from neighbors, without either friends or 
money, they applied to the forest for support, some times being for 
thirty days without bread. They bore upon their shoulders to the 
nearest settlements venison, fish, furs, window-sash made from 
rived pine bolts, and exchanged them for family necessaries. 
Two of the sons, James and Andrew, killed seven deer in one 
day, and Andrew killed fifty-three in one season. Their per- 
severance and frugality secured to them a competency. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The first Sabbath after the three families of New Englanders 
occupied their cabins, they met at Deacon John Tyler's and had 
a religious service, consisting of prayer, reading of the Scrip- 
tures, singing, etc., and this was continued uninterruptedly until 
a house of worship was erected. Many Sabbaths every man, 
woman, and child within a distance of three miles was pre- 
sent. This was the case when Rev. E. Kingsbury preached the 
first sermon in the place. Those who attended meeting then, 
either walked, or rode on horseback ; for such was the state of 
the roads that no vehicles but ox-sleds in winter were available. 
A dense forest, with here and there a small clearing, was not a 
place for pleasure-riding, and those who resorted to the place of 
prayer had in view a higher object. 

In 1813, the Congregational Church of Ararat was organized 
by the Revs. Ebenezer Kingsbury and Samuel Sergeant, mis- 
sionaries of the Connecticut Missionary Society ; and the former 
continued to act as moderator of the church until near the 
close of his useful life. Many were the visits he made to this 
little band of pilgrims, who greeted his coming with a hearty 
welcome, one phase of which, in these days, would be omitted — 
the decanter and tiny wine-glass, which were never seen at other 
times, were always set on the table for "Father Kingsbury," who 
followed, then, Paul's advice to Timothy, but he was afterwards 
one of the first to engage in the temperance reform. The follow- 
ing twelve were the original members of the church : John and 
Mercy Tyler, Hezekiah and Lucy Bushnell, Truman and Rhoda 
Clinton, Shubael and Ruth Williams, Jabez and Harriet Tyler, 
Lucinda Carpenter, and William West. Of these, not one is 
now living. 

The church had no settled pastor until November, 1847, when 
the Rev. George N. Todd came, and remained about six years. 
A neat parsonage was completed in the fall of 1848. The five 
acres of land attached to it were the gift of Deacon Jabez Tyler. 
The church was dedicated February 6, 1850. The Revs. 0. W. 
Norton, Lyman Richardson, J. B. Wilson, and Edw. Allen have 
officiated successively in its pulpit, either as pastors or stated sup- 
plies. There are now but about thirty communicants, though a 



480 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

few more than one hundred have been connected with the church 
since its organization. A Sabbath-school has been long sus- 
tained, the first having been formed by Hezekiah Bushnell and 
Jabez Tyler ; and its library is the only public one in the town. 
A Methodist society was formed some years since, but they 
have no church edifice, though one is in contemplation (1872). 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

A temperance society was formed in 1830, by Eev. Mr. Adams. 
A barn of H. Bushnell's was the first building raised without 
liquor. 

Ararat post-office, with the exception of one in Virginia, is 
the only one of the name in the United States. 

On the slope towards the Tunkhannock Creek, grain can be 
raised to better advantage than on the summit and east of it, 
which is better adapted to grass, especially "timothy." 

The sheep and cows are mostly of the native breeds. There 
is still a considerable number of sheep, but the high prices of 
butter, until recently, have turned the attention of farmers to the 
keeping of dairies as a principal source of profit. 

Good crops of buckwheat, oats, and potatoes are raised, but 
wheat does not do very well, though exceptional cases are men- 
tioned. On land of Nathaniel West wheat has been " sixty-fold ;" 
oats raised there produced one head of 22 inches, and several of 
18 inches. In 1869, John Beaumont raised from one seed of oats 
36 stalks, from another 32, and from another 26. In early times 
when wolves, panthers, wild cats, and deer were near neighbors, 
the only safety for sheep was close proximity to the house at 
night, and even then, unless very carefully fenced in, they would 
be missing in the morning. Now and then an elk, or a bear, 
was seen. One Sabbath morning as Mr. and Mrs. B. were lead- 
ing their only child (Leonard Augustus), 1 along the path towards 
the place where their religious service was held, they saw, a few 
yards distant, a large white-faced bear watching their progress 
with apparent indifference. The white face being an uncommon 
feature of bruin's, they did not readily detect him, but supposed 
him to be a neighbor's cow. But when he threw himself upon 
his haunches and extended his monstrous paws, Mr. B. swung 
his hat, and hurrahed at the top of his voice, in mass-meeting 
style, which had the effect which similar demonstrations are 
always supposed to have — -the old fellow "run well;" and they 
passed on to the house of prayer. 

The cry of "stop thief!" or "arrest the murderer !" was occa- 
sionally heard in the Beechwoods fifty years ago, and as a belief 

1 L. A. Bushnell and Almond Clinton, the only living representatives of the 
juvenile "first settlers," have left the township. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 481 

in retributive justice was inherent with the New Englanders, 
they promptly responded. On one occasion a stranger appeared 
to the people who had gathered for worship, and stated that he 
had been robbed in the woods by a ruffian who had fled by the 
Harmony road towards the State line. As a man answering to 
the description had passed that way early in the morning, it 
was thought possible he might be overtaken before reaching it. 
Mr. B. mounted his horse and gave chase, overtaking him just this 
side of the New York line ; and without aid or assistant, arrested 
and pinioned him, marched him back through a ten mile forest, 
and delivered him to the authorities. 

Upon that same road, at a later period, the murder of Oliver 
Harper was perpetrated, for which Jason Treadwell suffered the 
severest penalty of the law. The last house the victim entered 
was Hezekiah Bushnell's; he asked of Mrs. B. and received a 
piece of mutton-tallow with which to rub his chafed and weary 
limbs. 

When Harper's body was found, the news spread like wild- 
fire. "A man murdered and the murderer at large!" Every 
muscle was strained to procure his arrest. Roads and bridges 
were guarded, men on horseback and on foot scoured the woods 
for several days, and great was the relief when the supposed 
criminal was lodged in Montrose jail. 

A similar excitement was occasioned a few years afterwards 
by the cry, "a man murdered this side of Belmont, and the mur- 
derer in the woods coming towards this settlement!" Again 
nearly every man was engaged in the search ; and while the 
husbands and fathers were thus absent, the mothers pressed 
closer their little ones in fearful suspense, lest the villain should 
pounce upon them in their helplessness. Finally he emerged 
from the woods, and under false pretences found shelter with 
James Dunn, a hospitable Scotchman, who lived in a secluded 
part of what is now Ararat township. His wants being supplied 
he went to bed ; but soon after a posse of men effected a sudden 
entrance, and surrounding the bed captured the wretched crea- 
ture without resistance. He was taken to Bethany, tried, sen- 
tenced, and hung. This was Matthews, murderer of Col. Brooks. 



Among the inventions by the residents of this township, has 
been a felloe-dowel-pin (of metal and tubular), by E. Deuison 
Tyler, and for which a patent has been issued. 

[Most of the material for this chapter was kindly furnished 
by J. C. Bushnell, Esq.] 
31 



482 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THOMSON. 

At the date of its settlement, this township formed a part of 
Jackson ; but, in the spring of 1833, the latter was divided into 
two equal parts, and the eastern half received the name of 
Thomson, in honor of the Hon. Wm. Thomson, who was one of 
the Associate Judges of the Court of Susquehanna County at the 
time of its organization, and for many years afterwards. 

The area of the township has since been diminished by the 
erection of Ararat from parts of Thomson and Herrick ; the 
present eastern line being one mile,' and the western about two 
miles, less than their original extent, which was six miles ; the 
north and south lines being four and a half miles. 

The surface of the township is more hilly than that of Jack- 
son, except in the valleys of its principal streams, the Starucca 
and Canawacta. The former rises in Ararat and crosses Thom- 
son diagonally from the southern to the eastern border; then, 
after meandering a little in Wayne County, it re-enters the town- 
ship in the northeast corner, and crosses into Harmony, which it 
traverses until it falls into the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro. 
The Canawacta rises near the center of Thomson, not far from 
the source of one of the tributaries of the Starrucca, and, run- 
ning northwardly, reaches the Susquehanna between Lanesboro 
and Susquehanna Depot, nearly a mile below the former stream. 
A tributary to the Tunkhannock rises in the southwest corner 
of the township. One of the hills of the township, called Dutch 
Hill, is reported as subject to tremblings and explosions, occa- 
sioned, it is thought, by internal gaseous combinations. 

Thomson shares its two finest sheets of water with other 
townships; the Wayne County line passing through Wrighter's 
Pond 1 in the extreme southeast, and the line of Harmony through 
Comfort's Pond in the north. Church Pond, near the latter, is 
wholly in Thomson. Messenger's Pond is about one mile from 
Thomson Center. 

The forests comprise a variety of timber, such as beech, birch, 
maple, ash, pine, hemlock (there are a few instances of grafted, 
hemlock), cherry, chestnut, and bass-wood. Formerly the beech- 

' Early known as " Breeches'' Pond, from its fancied resemblance to the 
short nether garment of the olden time. Even fancy cannot trace it on the 
Susquehanna County side. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 483 

woods stretched from this vicinity fifty or sixty miles eastward 
to "the Barrens" of New York ; but the dense wilderness is now 
relieved by sunlight on many a clearing and thrifty hamlet. 

As early as 1788-89, Samuel Preston and John Hilborn were 
engaged in constructing what is known as the old North and South 
Road, from Pocono Point, near Stroudsburg, on the Delaware, 
north to the State line. It was built mostly by private enter- 
prise, the gentlemen mentioned being in the employ of Tench 
Coxe and Henry Drinker, landholders, of Philadelphia, and the 
State appropriated $1000 towards it. The act of legislature also 
provided for another road, to leave the North and South Road at 
or near Mt. Ararat, and to be constructed westward to the mouth 
of the Tioga River. But, as the Susquehanna River, with which 
the former was connected, furnished so good a substitute for this 
road, it was never constructed. 1 

We are told there was, in 1820, no road in what is now Thom- 
son township, except "an old log road from Simond's settlement 
(in Ararat) to Starucca." 

The first settlement within the present limits of Thomson was 
made by John Wrighter, in the spring of 1820. He came from 
Mt. Pleasant, but was originally from Dutchess County, N. Y. 
His father was a native of Bavaria; his wife was born and 
brought up in London. Having lost his property through 
the dishonesty of a supposed friend, he was very poor when he 
came, and, consequently, he and his family endured many hard- 
ships and privations, in addition to those of conquering a dense 
wilderness. They made their first home by the side of a log, on 
which they laid boards from their wagon; the boards having 
been left by some lumberman. Here they found shelter until 
they built a log-house. For three weeks, they were near starva- 
tion, having to subsist on frozen potatoes and what meat Mr. W. 
could procure with his rifle. 

He was a blacksmith, and sometimes worked through the 
week at Harmony, eleven miles distant. Saturday nights he 
would take a bushel of meal, with other necessaries on his back, 
and walk home. Once, being belated on account of the dark- 
ness, he could not keep his course, and he waited for the moon 
to rise. He laid his bag on the ground, making of it a pillow y 
and fell asleep. Twice he was aroused by wild animals walking 
•around and smelling him; but, fortunately, this was the extent 
of the danger, and soon the moon arose, allowing him to pursue 
his journey. 

He has seen from thirty to forty elk at one time near his home, 

1 This statement is made in the ' History of Mt. Pleasant,' by Rev. S. 
Whaley; but, on the map accompanying Proud' 8 'History of Pennsylvania,'' 
the only road laid down in the section which now comprises Susquehanna 
County, is the one from Belmont to Tioga Point. 



48-1 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

with horns so large they appeared like immense chairs on their 
heads. The woods abounded, at that time, in elk, deer, bears, 
wolves, wild-cats, and panthers. 

Though Mr. W. has been classed among hunters, he cultivated 
a farm, and devoted but part of his time to hunting. " His suc- 
cess was owing more to his calm and fearless manner of meeting 
wild animals, than to any dexterity. He had a tall, heavy-built 
frame, and his movements were slow, but firm and forcible. His 
mind, partaking of his bodily characteristics, was well balanced." 
(Eev. S. Whaley.) 

Joseph Porter, the next settler, came in 1823, and commenced 
clearing a farm on the Starucca Creek, about two and a half miles 
from John Wrighter's, at what is now Thomson Center. At 
first he boarded with Mr. Wrighter, while chopping daily on his 
own place. One time when at work later than usual, it became 
so dark before he could reach Wrighter's that he lost his path ; 
the wolves came upon him, and forced him to climb a tree, where 
he remained until daylight. 

In 1824, and prior to the arrival of the third settler, the Bel- 
mont and Oquago turnpike was finished to Harmony. It passes 
entirely through Thomson, from the point now marked as its 
southeast corner, via the Center and the Canawacta Creek, to 
Comfort's Pond, near which it enters Harmony township. It 
was incorporated Feb. 1817. 

Frederick Bingham moved into Thomson in the spring of 
1826, and began a clearing about half a mile from the Center. 

Capt. Jonas Blandin came in the fall of the same year, and 
settled at the Center. In the spring of 1828 he opened an inn 
which he kept for about fifteen years. He had received a cap- 
tain's commission, in 1818, while in Vermont. 

Collins Gelatt, Joel Lamb, Jr., and Ebenezer Messenger, came 
in about this time, and Enoch Tarbox a little later, all settling 
not far from Porter and Blandin. 

The first child born in the township was John M., son of John 
Wrighter, January, 1821. 

The first day-school was kept by Miss Leafy Blandin, who 
had about a dozen scholars, in a log-house built by Joseph Por- 
ter, at Thomson Center. 

RELIGIOUS. 

Elder Nathaniel Lewis, a local preacher from Harmony, was 
the first who preached in Thomson, and who also formed the 
first Methodist class there. It consisted of five members: Fred- 
erick and Rachel Bingham, John and Ann Wrighter, and Betsey 
Gelatt. 

The eccentricities of Elder Lewis have been previously no- 
ticed At one time whilst he was preaching, some unruly boys 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 485 

disturbed the meeting to such an extent that the elder's patience 
gave way, and he upbraided them as the most hogrnatical set of 
scoundrels he ever saw. On being told that there was no such 
word in common usage, the elder said, I don't care, it was appli- 
cable. 

The first traveling preachers were Elders Warner, Barnes, and 
Herrick. The North Bainbridge Circuit then extended to this 
section, and embraced one hundred and twenty miles of travel, 
requiring two weeks for the trip. Elders George Evans, Peter 
Bridgman, and Benjamin Shipman succeeded the former three 
on this circuit. The first Sabbath-school was formed by elder 
John Deming, a local preacher. It was held in a school-house 
about a mile north of the Center. 

There was no church edifice in the township until the Metho- 
dists built the fine one, at the Center, in 1851, and which was 
dedicated Jan. 1852. The society has a large membership. 

The Free-will Baptists have a society, recently formed, and 
have regular preaching, in a school-house one and a half miles 
west of the Center. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

At the first township election in the spring of 1834, there were 
only thirty-five votes polled ; but, in the fall of the same year, at 
the general election, fifty-one voters appeared, being within five 
of every taxable in the township. To account for this number, 
it must be remembered that, at that time, Thomson included the 
north part of what is now Ararat, which was then comparatively 
well settled. Thus among the first township officers of Thomson 
we find Nathaniel West, Hezekiah Bushnell, and Obadiah L. 
Carpenter, all afterwards included in Ararat. Charles Wrighter 
and Jacob Clark were the first constables, the latter being also 
the first town clerk. Nathaniel West and Joel Lamb were the 
first supervisors. Benjamin Ball and Hezekiah Bushnell, first 
overseers of the poor, and John Wrighter, Christopher Toby, 
and O. L. Carpenter, first auditors. Charles Wrighter and Joel 
Lamb were the first justices of the peace. There was a post- 
office at Wrighter's as early as 1825. 

Prior to the division of Jackson township, a post-office by that 
name had been established at what is now Thomson Center, but 
in 1836, the name was transferred to what had been Barry ville, 
in the western part of that township. Jonas Blandin received 
his appointment in 1830, and, with a short interval, retained 
the office in Thomson nearly thirty years. 

Until the Fremont campaign, the township was strongly Demo- 
cratic, and since then has been as strongly Republican. 

The first temperance society was formed in 1834; Martin J. 
Mumford, President. 



486 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

There is now a flourishing lodge of Good Templars, who hold 
their meetings weekly. Organized Sept. 30, 1867. 

C. P. Tallman, the first merchant, established a store in 1841. 
The spring of 1842 was a remarkably early one, and favorable 
for the making of maple sugar, so much so that within an area 
of two miles square, 14,694 lbs. of it were made that season. 

The site of J. Blandin's inn is now occupied by a more com- 
modious public house. 

Jesse Stoddard, 80 years old in April of 1869, chopped forty 
cords -of stove-wood in the months of December and January 
following. 

The Jefferson Railroad winds in and out of the township much 
as the Starucca Creek does, and has already wrought great changes 
all along its course, whilst Thomson Center, from being spoken of 
only as a by-word, has attained to no small importance. It is a 
railroad station, has two saw-mills (one steam power), a church, a 
store, and post-office, a blacksmith shop, etc. 

Starucca depot is within the township, though the village of 
that name is just over the-line in Wayne County. There is a 
large amount of unseated land in the township. 

[The only residents of Thomson who contributed to its annals, 
were Jonas Blandin and his son Gr. P. B., Esq.] 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE NICHOLSON LANDS. 

Next in importance to the long disquiet occasioned by dis- 
puted titles, when Connecticut denied to Pennsylvania the right 
of soil within the bounds of old Westmoreland, was that to 
which settlers on the Nicholson lands were subjected for a 
period of nearly twenty years : firstly, by an alleged lien of a 
Philadelphia corporation ; and afterwards by one of the State 
on the Hopbottom tract, as well as on that called "Drinker's 
Meshoppen tract." John Nicholson was comptroller of Pennsyl- 
vania from 1782 to 1794, and during that period was owner of 
about 8,700,000 acres of land in the State. In 1785, he, with 
Dr. Barnabas Binney, purchased from the State sixty tracts, 
including a considerable portion of the township of Brooklyn; 
and paid to the State the full amount of the purchase-money. In 
1789, he commenced a settlement upon the lands which, by the 
partition between him and Dr. Binney, had been allotted to him. 
In 1795, he borrowed from the Widow's Fund Corporation of 
Philadelphia, $37,166, and secured the payment by a mortgage 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 487 

upon thirty-five tracts in Brooklyn. The mortgage fell due in 
1799. No part of the money was paid to the corporation, and 
Nicholson died insolvent. 

In 1805, the corporation agreed to sell to John B. Wallace 
and thus closed the mortgage of Nicholson, the lands being 
bought in for the corporation ; who, on Wallace's paying the 
purchase-money, were to convey the same to him. The pur- 
chase-money was payable in fifteen years from March, 1805, and 
the interest payable annually. Mr. Wallace paid the interest 
for several years, and continued to sell the lands until 1^23 or 
'24, when he had sold about 2250 acres — the best part of the 
land — and for which he had received payment. 

In 1823, the state of the title and the interest which the cor- 
poration held in the land, becoming known to the settlers, ex- 
cited much anxiety among those who had paid Wallace, but 
who, as was then ascertained, had received no title. 

Some went to Philadelphia, and requested that the business 
might be closed. A correspondence was continued between 
them until 1826 or '27, when a committee for the corporation 
came and met the settlers at Mr. Breed's, in Brooklyn ; but 
nothing was or could be effected with those who had not paid, 
until the question of the corporation's title was settled. 

Wm. Jessup, Esq., had seen the officers of the corporation in 
Philadelphia, and obtained the assurance that no settler who 
had paid Mr. Wallace, should be again called upon to pay for 
his land. He wrote to some of the settlers, and had a meeting 
at his office, when it was agreed that he should bring a suit upon 
the lot on which Jeduthan Nickerson lived in order to settle the 
question in Brooklyn. Those present assured him that counsel 
should be employed, the cause fairly tried, and thus the title 
might be settled. But counsel was not employed. Afterwards, 
another suit was brought against some settlers in Bridgewater, 
who doubted the corporation's title. Messrs. Case and Read ex- 
amined the papers, and pronounced the title good. Obadiah 
Green employed Mr. Wurts, who pronounced the title bad. 
Those settlers who were satisfied with the decision of Messrs. 
Case and Read, agreed to contract for their lands, having ten 
years in which to pay for them ; but Mr. Wurts entered a plea 
for Green. The issue was duly tried, and a verdict was rendered 
for the corporation. 

Another cause was also tried, and the right by law of the cor- 
poration to call upon those who had paid to Wallace, to pay 
again, was fully established. But Mr. Jessup urged that the 
title of the settlers, as made by Wallace, should be confirmed, 
and that thus the fears and anxieties of those who had honestly 
paid their money should be quieted. In the fall of 1832, he 
succeeded in getting instructions which authorized him to make 
releases in all cases in which the settlers had paid Mr. Wallace. 



488 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The foregoing refers to that part of the corporation's lands not 
interfered with by what are called the Allen surveys. 

In 1775, Benjamin Chew, Andrew Allen, and others, took up 
a large quantity of land, a portion of which lay upon the Hop- 
bottom Creek. By the attainder of Andrew Allen, in 1778, his 
part of those lands was confiscated to the State ; and by a deci- 
sion made subsequently by the supreme executive council, the 
share belonging to the State was located in Brooklyn, on what 
was called the Chew and Allen warrants. When the surveyor 
located the Nicholson warrants, he laid them upon part of the 
lands confiscated to the State. 

The State having received pay from Nicholson, it was sup- 
posed that the titles of those who held under him, were good as 
against the State, and that the State never would claim the land 
from those who had paid their full price; until the decision was 
rendered in the case of Wallace vs. Tiffany (Amos?), by which 
it was decided by the Supreme Court, that the title passed by 
the officers of the land office to Nicholson was irregular, saying 
also, that legislative action would be necessary to regulate the title. 

Mr. Joseph Chapman was partly on the Allen lands, and 
through the procurement of Mr. Jessup, and with the assistance 
of Messrs. Read and Jones, an act from the legislature was passed 
confirming the title of any settler who held under the Nicholson 
title — on application to the legislature. But with the great body 
of the Allen lands, Mr. J. had nothing to do, as they were cov- 
ered by the Mary M. Wallace warrants. 

THE NICHOLSON COURT. 

Thus far all that has been said refers to events prior to Nov. 
1834. We pass on now to the panic of 1841. By an act of 
legislature a year previous, commissioners had been appointed 
to hunt up and settle the claims of the estate of John Nicholson to 
lands formerly purchased by him in various parts of the State. 
These commissioners had given notice through the papers that 
they would be in Montrose on a given day, to adjust the respective 
interests of the State, the heirs and creditors, and also of the 
settlers of any such lands in this county. 

The streets of Montrose on the day specified (in August) were 
thronged, but the commissioners failed to appear ; and they did 
not make their appearance until about the middle of November 
following, when for two or three weeks they exhibited at McCol- 
lum's Hotel their papers and maps, and drew the attention of 
crowds. Even those who had no personal interest in the Nich- 
olson lands, began to feel insecure against unexpected claimants 
to their lands, which they had long owned and occupied with a 
confidence not less than their more unfortunate neighbors. Sev- 
eral townships were in a panic. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 489 

The editor of the ■ Susquehanna Register/ under date of Sep- 
tember of that year, remarks : — 

" Such has been the excitement prevailing, that all sorts of ridiculous and 
improbable stories have been set afloat, and circulated, with various addi- 
tions, improvements, and embellishments, among the credulous, the marvel- 
lous, and uninformed ; until many know not what to believe, or how much to 
be alarmed. While many who have uever paid anything for their lands, 
eagerly embrace the offer of the commissioners to compromise, by contract- 
ing to pay fifty cents or a dollar per acre, in the hope of getting a title from 
the State at that cheap rate, even some who had long ago paid for their 
farms, under a title supposed to be settled, also came forward and paid their 
five dollars each, as an earnest to bind the contract, and secured what they 
supposed to be their last chance of saving their farms ! Some, however, 
concluded to hold on awhile to their titles already obtained, before paying 
out their money for a mere quitclaim deed from the State to all right, title, 
and interest of John Nicholson ; to wait for some legal decision to see if 
that title was good for anything." 

In order to allay the excitement, Benjamin T. Case, Esq., con- 
tributed to the same journal three pertinent articles, giving the 
result of his own investigations for many years, as counsel for 
persons interested in those lands. He was induced to this step 
by the fact, that the uncertainty in respect to titles was having 
a tendency adverse not only to his own interests, but to those of 
the county; as new-comers declined to purchase and settle where 
there was so little appearance that they could remain in quiet 
possession. Mr. Case stated that the Nicholson claims presented 
themselves in three points of view : — 

1. The claims of the heirs — which were barred by the statute 
of limitations. 

2. The claims of the creditors; but there was no mortgage 
upon the records of the county ; and if there were, it is presumed 
to be paid, in law, after twenty years; and a judgment is lost 
after five years. 

3. Commonwealth liens, and of these there were three ; those 
of December, 1795 and '96, and of June, 1800. The statute of limi- 
tations does not extend to a debt due the State; but Mr. C. was 
not aware of any lands in this county so situated as to raise the 
question about their being barred by the lapse of time. " To us 
citizens of Susquehanna County it is a mere matter of specula- 
tion. ToBinney's share of the sixty warrants issued to him and 
Nicholson, neither Nicholson's heirs, creditors, nor the State can 
have claim. As to the residue (thirty-five tracts, called the Hop- 
bottom lands), John Nicholson mortgaged them, January 22d, 
1795 — eleven months before the State obtained her first lien — to 
the Widows' Fund Corporation, to secure the payment of 
$37,166 5 1 which settles the question ; for in the event of the 

1 On the 1st of January, 1799, witli interest annually. The money not being 
paid, the mortgage was duly foreclosed in Luzerne County, the land sold at 
sheriff's sale, aud the present owners now hold under that title. (B. T. Case.) 



490 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

State lien being prior to the mortgage, only the money arising 
from the sale could be claimed, not the land; even if a judgment 
be reversed for error after a sale on it, the purchaser's title on it 
is not disturbed." 

In March, 1842, the "Nicholson Court" decided that "the 
Nicholson claim to the corporation lands in Brooklyn and 
Bridgewater is good — for nothing !" 

It was estimated that two hundred persons in Susquehanna 
County paid $5.00 each to the commissioners; but in Wayne, 
Pike, and Monroe Counties they failed to raise such an excitement 
as they did here. In Wilkes-Barre, the indignation of the people, 
when the commissioners offered for sale lands that had been 
owned and occupied since 1774, was manifested in such a way 
as to cut short their work there. Here, the people had not so 
long battled with "the powers that be;" and were weary of the 
demands of the holders of warrants, which warrants were in some 
cases as many as three and four for the same tract, showing that 
some one at the land office could give an " irregular" title. 

DRINKER'S MESHOPPEN TRACT. 

A part of this was in Auburn and Springville. John Nichol- 
son took out 168 warrants of 400 acres each, of land included in 
what was then Luzerne County; seventy-eight of which inter- 
fered with prior surveys of Samuel Wallis, from whom Henry 
Drinker purchased ; and were on the south end of the Meshoppen 
tract. Both Wallis and Nicholson paid the State for the land, 
but as Wallis's surveys were of an earlier date, the Board of 
Property decided in his favor. Nicholson appealed to the Su- 
preme Court, and the decision was again in favor of Wallis. In 
view of these facts, B. T. Case, Esq., stated, " Patents regularly 
issued to Drinker, who bought of Wallis, and the purchasers 
under him on those lands, hold under this title, and what is to 
disturb them ?" 

Henry Drinker, Geo. Clymer, and Samuel Meredith held 168 
warrants, of dates l790-"91-'92 and '93, paid for and patented. 
It was to these John Nicholson laid claim by virtue of other 
warrants, dated August 17, 1798; a date subsequent to all the 
warrants issued to the above, and for more than forty years the 
matter had been supposed to be settled by the Supreme Court; 
and in a report made by Mr. Kidder of the Senate of Pennsyl- 
vania, March, 1842, after a second investigation of the subject, 
it was stated that " the Judiciary Committee cannot discern even 
the shadow of a claim, either in law or equit} r , that the Nichol- 
son estate has upon the Drinker lands in Susquehanna and 
Luzerne Counties." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 491 

SAMUEL EWING'S LANDS. 

Ten of these tracts lay on the Lackawanna Creek, in the 
eastern part of the county, and were purchased from Ewing by 
Nicholson; but Ewing continued to hold the title in his own 
name, as a trustee for Nicholson. Those who purchased of 
Ewing without notice of a trust, took the land discharged of 
the trust. A mortgage, August, 1795, by Nicholson to Ewing, 
was duly foreclosed, and sold at sheriff's sale, by Ewing. Thus, 
in the opinion of one of Susquehanna's ablest lawyers, "There 
is no land in the county covered by the State's liens, or to which 
the heirs or creditors of John Nicholson have any valid claim; 
and if those who compromised with the commissioners persist 
in claiming to hold exclusively under those contracts, law-suits 
are sure to follow." Happily, the Nicholson claim to the widow 
and orphans' fund, and the Drinker tracts, was, as stated pre- 
viously, decided against them by higher authority, and from that 
time Susquehanna County land-owners have had "peace." 

Henry Drinker was the owner of what are called the West- 
town school lands, 1 in Lenox, and Fields and Collins were also 
holders of lands in the same township. Wm, Hartley bought 
the Fields title; C. L. Ward, the Collins lands; and these were 
all settled and sold to the settlers at fifty cents per acre, which 
quieted the titles in this portion of the county. The titles of 
one-half the lands in the township were in dispute for twenty- 
five years. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION AND MINERAL RESOURCES. 
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 

The following items are gleaned principally from the State 
Geological Reports of Prof. Henry Darwin Rogers. 

In the State of New York, local geographical names are given 
to whole series of strata, as is also the case in Europe; but, in 
the geographical surveys of Pennsylvania and Virginia, Prof. 
Rogers has preferred to use the successive periods of the day, 
from dawn to nightfall, as technical terms applied to fifteen divi- 
sions of the Palaeozoic rocks, including the Silurian, Devonian, 

1 These lands were a donation by Henry Drinker, the elder, to the Friends' 
Board ii)£ School at West-town, Chester Co., Penna., an institution in which he 
took much interest. 



492 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

and Carboniferous formations of English geologists. Only three 
of the fifteen are found exposed in the district of which Susque- 
hanna County forms a part: "Vergent, or Descending Bay," 
"' Ponent, or Sunset," and "Vespertine, or Evening." These cor- 
respond to the Upper Devonian and Lowest Carboniferous forma- 
tions of other geologists. " Vespertine," the highest in our county, 
is still a lower formation than "Umbral, or Dusk," of Prof. Eogers's 
series, and thus many hundred feet beneath "Serai or Night- 
fall" — his nomenclature for the true coal measures. 

Pennsylvania, orographically, or in the relief of its surface, is divided into 
five districts — the fourth, or northeast, comprising the counties of Susque- 
hanna, Bradford, and part of Tioga; and is watered by tributaries of the 
north branch of the Susquehanna. 

Hydrographically, the State has three divisions — Atlantic, Ohio, and Erie. 
But though the fourth district is drained by an Atlantic river, it belongs, 
orographically, to the valley of the St. Lawrence ; being the first or highest 
of the succession of plains or terraces by which the surface descends to 
Lake Ontario. 

The northeast division of the district consists of three geological forma- 
tions, or, perhaps, more properly, three series of the great Palaeozoic forma- 
tion—the Vespertine Gray Sandstone, Ponent Red Sandstone, and Vergent 
Shales— distributed in obedience to four wide, anticlinal waves, and three in- 
tervening synclinal troughs. 

The Vergent strata (the lowest of the three) consist of a body of bluish 
shales, and imbedded gray, argillaceous sandstones. Its characteristic fossils 
are Fucoids, or ancient sea-weeds. 

The Ponent strata consist of a thick mass of red shales and a few pebbly 
beds of white quartz. There are in them all but few organic remains ; but 
these contain one or two remarkable fishes. No remains or footprints of 
reptiles have ever been discovered in the Ponent strata. They correspond 
to the old Red Sandstone of Great Britain. 

The Vespertine is the lowest of the carboniferous strata j 1 and in this is 
remarked the suddenness of the change from marine to terrestrial forms, ex- 
hibiting amazing vegetation. The organic remains are fragments of coal 
plants, for the most part specifically different from those of the upper or true 
coal measures. 

In the subdivisions also of the Palaeozoic region, Susquehanna County 
comes in the fourth, or northeast district, comprising the country between 
the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, north of the coal-basin, and is of 
simple structure. The surface is that of a roughly undulated plain. The 
eastern half is more broken and hilly than the parts west of the Susquehanna 
—a circumstance partly attributable to their geological composition, the 
country east of the river consisting largely of hard, micaceous, flaggy sand- 
stones ; that west of it, of a larger relative proportion of argillaceous sand- 
stones and clay shales. Proceeding northwestward from Belmont, we see 
in the hill, on the east of the stream, the Ponent red shales and Ves- 
pertine gray sandstones on the summit, without much inclination or dip. 



1 In the ' New American Cyclopedia,' both the Ponent and Vespertine are 
made to correspond to the Catskill group — the former to the red, and the latter 
to the gray sandstone. In the vicinity of Montrose, both varieties are obtained. 
The red crumbles after exposure, as is seen in stone walls and house founda- 
tions ; the gray is excellent material for buildings and flagstones. One of the 
largest specimens of the latter — twenty-four feet long by five or six feet wide — 
can be seen in front of the grocery of I. N. Bullard. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 493 

The silicious serai conglomerate is not seen. This rock terminates at the 
point of the coal-basin, four or five miles to the south. 1 On the hill west of 
the valley, little or no red shale is visible. Almost level strata of Vesper- 
tine flaggy gray sandstone occupy the hills nearly the whole way to Mont- 
rose. Belts of the underlying red sandstone do, it is true, sometimes appear; 
for though, in the deep valley of the Susquehanna, the denudation has ex- 
posed the upper Yergent strata, in the high country the Ponent rocks unite 
across the arch, and the Yergent are no longer visible. In the vicinity of 
Belmont, the Ponent rocks are held up along "the anticlinal to the level of 
all the lower plains and valleys. To the northwest of this belt is the syn- 
clinal range of mountain knobs and broken hills, along which flows the 
Tunkhannock Creek. This belt is but a continuation of the southeast table- 
land or basin of the bituminous coal region, and is composed of the Vesper- 
tine strata, gradually diminishing in breadth and thickness. 

In the tract next northwest of the Tunkhannock hills, the Ponent rocks 
occupy the higher grounds ; but the whole series is thin, and the valleys dis- 
close the upper members of the Vergent series. 

To this zone of country succeeds a more elevated synclinal belt, drained 
by the Wyalusing. It extends northeastward past Montrose, and is the 
prolongation of the second great trough or table-land of the bituminous 
coal region, and embraces, especially in the portion adjacent to the river, 
the lower strata of the Vespertine gray sandstones in a horizontal position. 
These rocks cap the more elevated tracts even in the vicinity of Montrose, 
the red Ponent rocks appearing in the beds of many of the deeper valleys. 

Beyond the Wyalusing the Towanda anticlinal lifts the Vergent rocks to 
the general surface of the country, except in the very highest levels where 
we find detached outlying patches of the thin Ponent series. This anticli- 
nal passes four or five miles north of Montrose, and is discernible in the 
great bend of the Susquehanna. Silver Lake is on its very gentle northern 
dip. This zone of country constitutes nearly the northern limit of the Ponent 
and Vespertine formations. 

Few of the Appalachian rivers can boast a greater amount of attractive 
scenery than the north branch presents throughout its whole course, from 
the great bend near the State line through New York, and thence through 
Pennsylvania to the Wyoming Valley. It owes this eminence in part to the 
beautiful manner in which its terraces of northern drift or gravel have been 
strewed or shaped at the last retreat or rush of waters across the continent. 
The broad high table-land in which the Appalachian coal-field terminates, 
has evidently stopped the southward course of the nearly spent sheets of 
water which transported the drift, and turned southeastward and south- 
westward over the two northern corners of Pennsylvania. 

Rev. H. A. Riley, of Montrose, says : — 

" There are but few parts of the county abundant in fossil remains. At 
Montrose have been found in the green sandstone of the old red formation 
parts of vegetable branches. Some finely marked and some partially car- 
bonized ; as also fine specimens of Cyclopteris, some scales of Holoptychius, 
and fragments of other scales. Some specimens found in this locality are of 
special interest. Among these are a head and several caudal extremities of 
the Cephalaspis Lyellii. The head, although perfect in outline, does not 
present any organic structure. The caudal parts have distinctly preserved 

1 The limit of anthracite coal on the north is in the Tunkhannock Mountain, 
on the sources of the Lackawanna River, and on the confines of Susquehanna, 
Wayne, and Luzerne Counties. It extends along the valleys of that stream to 
Wyoming Valley, thence through to the hills near Berwick, on the Susque- 
hanna, making, together, a distance of eighty miles. Other coal-fields lie 
below. — Gordon's Gazette. 



49-t HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the characteristic markings of the fish. These are claimed to be the first 
and perhaps the only specimens of this fossil discovered in the old red sand- 
stone of this country. They were found perhaps fifteen years since, in the 
old quarry in the village of Montrose. Another specimen of interest from 
the same locality is the fossil plant Wneggeratkia obtusa — a portion of the 
frond of which is figured in Dana's ' Geology,' p. 291, and of which Prof. 
Leo Lesquereux ('American Journal of Science and Art,' vol. 23) says : — 
"It shows the upper part of a frond with three oblique pinnae somewhat 
reflexed from their base, and the pinnules or leaves, broadly oval or reni- 
f'orm, the upper one flabellate, all narrowed to the base and pinnately 
attached on both sides of the rachis by a narrow decurring base. The point 
of attachment of the leaves is just as I have figured it in my report. This 
splendid specimen has evidently the general outline and the appearance of a 
fern, and at once puts aside Brongniart's surmise that the simply pinnate 
form of the leaf, etc., shows it to be analogous to the Zamige." 

The frond measures 12 by 7 inches. These specimens were 
found by Mr. Eiley, and are in his cabinet at Montrose. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

In a mineralogical point of view, the three formations which 
overspread this northeast district of the State are remarkably 
destitute of interest, however instructive as respects their organic 
remains. 

Some very unimportant indications of copper have been ob- 
served in the Ponent red shales, but there is no evidence of veins 
or beds of copper ore of any magnitude or value. It is said the 
ferruginous sulphuret of copper has been found near the village 
of Brooklyn, seven miles southeast of Montrose. 1 This discovery 
produced, in 1837, considerable local excitement, and the Hop- 
bottom valley acquired some newspaper notoriety. This was 
prior to the thorough geological survey of Professor Rogers, which 
failed to corroborate some of the floating rumors of the mineral 
wealth of the county. It had been said that iron, copper, paint, 
anthracite, and bituminous coal had been discovered— a bed of 
the latter being on the Susquehanna River near Great Bend. As 
early as 1823, it was asserted that " near the eastern line of our 
county there are extensive mines of stone-coal, lying on each side 
and near the Milford and Owego turnpike." At that time a com- 
pany was engaged in "sledding coal from these mines to Milford, 
on the Delaware, to be conveyed from thence to the Philadelphia 
market by the spring-tide." But the mines must have been some 
miles below the turnpike, and outside of the county, since the 
Moosic Mountain, our eastern border in that region, consists of 
the Vespertine strata at a low angle northwestward, and between 
the southern slope and Bethany the chief formation exposed is 
the Ponent red sandstone. And if we pass northward, we shall 

' There are tradi ions of lead and silver having been found near the Susque- 
hanna River, and at present there are hopes of coal being found there, and near 
Unioudale. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 495 

find the Ponent red shales and sandstones predominating, though 
covered with the Vespertine green and gray rocks, in many places 
as far as the headwaters of Starucca Greek; where the horizontal 
position of the strata seems to change to a slight southern inclina- 
tion, and the red shale ceases to be observed, the underlying Ver- 
gent shales coming to the surface. Beginning to descend towards 
the Susquehanna Kiver at Harmony, we find by the fossils in 
the strata, that we are in this formation. [Rogers.] 

As already shown, not one of these three formations contains 
the true coal measures. 

Whatever doubt there may be respecting the presence of other 
minerals within our county, that of salt will not be denied, since 
both the Ponent and Vespertine sandstones contain feeble springs 
of it in this section as elsewhere. It has not been found, how- 
ever, in quantities large enough to repay the expense of working 
it, unless very recently. 

The earliest intimations of the existence of salt here appear to 
have been derived from the Indians by families living in the 
vicinity of Great Bend. J. B. Buck, of Susquehanna Depot, 
states as follows : — 

" My great uncle was put with the Onondagas ■when they had their center 
two miles above where Windsor village now is, to learn their language, by 
his father Dean, at eleven years old. He staid ten years, and while he was 
there a few of the Indians went to get salt. They always went on one side 
of the river, and returned on the opposite side. He was considered one of 
them, but not in all things. One day he concluded to follow them, and did 
so. He got down a little below what is called Waller's Brook, where he was 
caught by one of the Indians who was lying in wait. It was with much diffi- 
culty that his life was spared, and he never dared to venture again. When 
his time was up with them, he made a bargain by which they were to show 
him the spring on his bringing them five large kettles. With great difficulty 
he got the kettles as far as Unadilla, and then, hearing that the war had com- 
menced with England, he buried them. When the war was closed, he found 
that the kettles had been stolen, and things had so changed that he left the 
matter. In talking with my father, he said he was sure from appearances 
that he was near the salt spring when captured. One of the Indians told my 
father that he covered the spring and carried it so low into fresh water that 
no white man could find it. There has been much speculation for fifty years 
about this spring ; but if it is ever found, it will be probably above the Lanes- 
boro' Dam on the river bank." 

Joseph Du Bois, Esq., of Great Bend, contributed the following 
to the 'Northern Pennsylvaniau' : — 

" When my grandfather, Minna Du Bois, first came to Great Bend (1791) 
there were a few Indians in the neighborhood. Grandmother said that the 
squaws used to come to her house in the morning and borrow her kettle, and 
the same day before dark, they would return it with two or three quarts of 
dirty looking salt in the kettle. If these squaws were followed, as they some- 
times were, they wandered about in different directions, well knowing that 
they were watched, and would return with an empty kettle. When they were 
not interfered with, they invariably returned with the usual quantity of salt. 
The time of their absence, and the amount of salt made, rendered it certain 



496 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

that the spring was not far distant, yet the white settlers never succeeded 
in finding its locality. When I was a boy, I happened to be at the Log 
Tavern, then kept by Sylvanns Hatch, when a traveler — a stranger — stopped 
there, and, while there, he inquired of the landlord, Mr. Hatch, if he knew of 
three large Indian apple-trees, in this vicinity, standing on the bank of the 
Susquehanna River. Mr Hatch told him that they were just across the 
street. The stranger then said that an Indian, to whom he had shown some 
favors, told him that on the Susquehanna River stood three large apple-trees, 
planted by the Indians long, long ago ; that if he would go there and find 
the trees, by sighting the two trees lowest down the river, the line would 
strike the base of a big hill, and that if he would dig where the line struck 
the foot of the big hill, he would find a good salt spring. At this time there 
were quite a number of persons at the Log Tavern. The stranger went out 
to sight the trees, the crowd, including the writer, followed, and all sighted 
the two trees named. These two trees stood in relation to each other north 
and south; the line south struck the base of a big hill, known to old hunters 
as Middle Hill, opposite the residence of the late James Clark, and the line 
north struck the base of a big hill on the east side thereof, known as Trow- 
bridge Hill. Here was a dilemma, for the stranger said that the Indian did 
not tell him whether it was the big hill north or south of the apple-trees. He 
said he would not dig on such uncertainties, and he proceeded on his 
journey." 

In reference to the same spring the following is clipped from 
a statement of Rev. H. C. Hazard, whose father came from Otsego 
County to Susquehanna County in 1812 : — 

" In Otsego County my father lived near neighbor to Johnam Vroman, 
who was said to be three-fourths Dutch and one-fourth Indian, and who was 
taken prisoner by the Indians and kept all summer at 'the Three Apple- 
trees.' His captors broke his hands off backwards to prevent his doing them 
any injury in case he escaped. He used to tell father of the Indians' salt 
spring within one mile or so of 'the Three Apple-trees.' He said that when 
the sun was at ' midaugh' (mid-day) he must go directly towards, or from it ; 
but father, not supposing he should ever see this country, forgot which. He 
afterwards made search, but in vain." 

The various statements respecting the salt spring in Franklin 
cannot easily be reconciled. The earliest date given for its dis- 
covery occurs in the statement of Mrs. Garner Isbell, of Montrose, 
now (1871), seventy-seven years old. She says: — 

"Judge De Haert and brother were working at the spring in 
Franklin, all of seventy years ago, procuring their provisions 
from my father, Rufus Bowman, then a storekeeper at Windsor, 
N. Y., taking enough each Monday morning for a week, and re- 
turning every Saturday night to Windsor." 

She remembers that they talked of means for separating the 
salt from the fresh water, and that a dry goods box was proposed, 
and brought out as having something to do with this purpose. 
She believes this was in 1799, when she was little more than five 
years old. If this is correct, it was prior to Judge De Haert's 
residence in Binghamton, and only a prelude to his more per- 
sistent efforts after he left there. 

Another statement is, that Abinoam Hinds and Isaac Perkins, 
who came to Bridgewater in 1802, were the discoverers of the 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 497 

spring. It is situated on the south side of Silver Creek, near its 
junction with Fall Brook, and about a mile west of Franklin 
Forks. The stream had been turned from its course and made 
to run over the spring, the basin of which was hollowed out of 
the rock with a tomahawk. They found it covered with a large 
spoon, and a stone laid over it. They could dip but a little at a 
time, but succeeded in boiling salt. 

A newspaper correspondent, in 1871, says: — 

"There was a tradition from the time of the first settlement of the county 
that there was a salt spring there, which had been destroyed by the Indians by 
turning the creek over it. 

" It is certain that previous to the operations of De Haert, Fall Creek as it 
left the gorge followed the base of the bluff on the south side of the fiat, 
passing over the spring, and was changed by De Haert to its present chan- 
nel." 

The following is taken from the ' Susquehanna Register,' under 
date of Nov. 28, 1828 :— 

" Some fifteen years ago, a salt spring was discovered about six miles in a 
northeast direction from Montrose. It had been covered over, probably by 
Indians ; and, on removing the cover, we are told, a wooden ladle was found 
lying in the spring. 

"The water is strongly impregnated with sulphur and iron, with a saline 
taste at first disagreeable ; and the gas, which is developed in large quanti- 
ties, is highly inflammable. 

" As there was not enough water in the spring to render the making of 
salt from it an object of importance, Balthaser De Haert built a cabin and 
took up his abode in the wilderness ; and, assisted by his brother, sunk a 
well about twenty feet, when they came to a rock. Then they commenced 
sinking a shaft into the rock ; but his brother died (in 1813), and Judge De 
Haert was left without much assistance, and with limited means. He con- 
tinued with a perseverance worthy of better success, progressing but slowly 
until he induced a number of capitalists to engage in the work with him. 
About five years ago— or in Jan. 1824 — after sinking a shaft to the depth of 
300 feet, it was supposed they had struck a fissure that would yield an abund- 
ance of salt water, but it proved a delusion. Judge De Haert soon after 
left the country, and the project was wholly abandoned. 1 ' 

The correspondent previously mentioned, in reference to this 
adds : — 

" I had supposed that De Haert's operations were at an earlier date than 
would appear by the article from the ' Eegister,'and that he left the country 
before Mr. Biddle commenced. Mr. Biddle's operations closed in the winter 
of 1824." 

About forty years later a writer in the ' Montrose Republican' 
made the following statement in regard to the operations at the 
same spring: — 

" The first boring was done under direction of Judge De Haert, and about 
three hundred feet was accomplished, when the enterprise was given up for 
several years, and the lands passed into the hands of Colonel Biddle, who 
had the work renewed ; and about two hundred feet more was drilled, which 
made the total depth of the well, according to the best data which can now 
be had, about five hundred feet. The enterprise was given up about the 
32 



498 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

year 1825, and the land on which the spring is located was taken up by set- 
tlers, and improved and cultivated. The tools used by Judge De Haert 
and Col. Biddle for boring, were such, that several years were spent by both 
parties in getting down the distance which they bored. They used a spring 
pole worked by hand. The water from the drill-hole was always more sul- 
phury than salty, and often bubbles would rise to the surface which, if 
touched with fire, would flash like powder. 

"In January last (1865), the well and fifteen acres surrounding, were 
bought by a company from New York city, for the purpose of boring for 
petroleum. 

" This company, unlike Messrs. De Haert and Biddle, work with more power 
than a 'spring pole.' Their motive power is a fifteen horse-power engine, 
and their drills are of the most improved patterns. The old drill hole, which 
was three and a quarter inches in diameter, they are reaming to four and a 
half inches." 

Either this writer was misinformed as to the object of the com- 
pany, or it appears now to be given up. The editor of the 'Mon- 
trose Democrat/ having in his possession the "Prospectus of the 
Susquehanna Salt and Mining Co.," a copy of which was handed 
him by the president of the company, F. J. Wall, N.Y., states, 
Jan. 1871:— 

"In 1865, the 'Susquehanna Salt Works Co.' purchased the property, 
and sunk a well to the depth of 650 feet, with a 4£ inch bore, at an expense of 
$28,000, erecting buildings, tanks, and salt block, etc. Several veins of fresh 
and salt water were passed through at the depth of 380 feet ; but from that 
time on until the present depth of 650 feet no more fresh water, but some ex- 
cellent veins of brine were found ; the last, within a few feet of the bottom, 
was the strongest of any yet found. The company started their block, and 
manufactured about twenty tons of fine dairy salt. Feeling that the amount 
made was not sufficient to make it pay well for the investment, and being New 
Yorkers who had the matter on speculation, instead of parties locally inter- 
ested, they refused to pay any more assessments toward further developing 
the resources of the well, causing the project to be abandoned until pur- 
chased by the present company. The salt made was of the very best quality, 
and was so pronounced by competent judges in New York. 

" The new company have purchased the entire title and interest to the 
property, and have secured a charter from the State of New York. The 
stock is fully paid up, and they have all the fixtures necessary for operation. 

" They have determined to sink the well at least 200 feet below its present 
depth, which will make it 850 feet; which is the depth of the best wells both 
at Syracuse and Saganaw. The company being in the hands of parties in 
this vicinity, such as Alanson Chalker, of Corbettsville, gen. supt. ; John S. 
Tarbell, of Montrose, vice-prest. ; and others, our knowledge of the enter- 
prise of the men leads us to believe that whatever resources the well contains 
will soon be developed." 

The same month, the company bored to a depth of nearly 800 
feet, and found a vein of brine richer than any previously 
reached. 

Dr. D. A. Lathrop, in order to test the strength of brine in the 
well, evaporated seventy-two pounds of brine, which produced 
ten pounds and nine ounces of salt. 

The ' Gleaner,' published at Wilkes-Barre, by C. Miner, in 
1815, stated, that — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY 499 

" Three persons had come to Middletown from the State of New York, and 
told Mr. Brister they had reason to believe there was a salt spring on his 
farm, and if he would let them come in on equal shares with him they would 
endeavor to find it. He agreed, and they dug in the place directed (by the 
Indians, who formerly lived there, it is supposed), and were so fortunate as 
to hit upon the right spot. On digging through three feet, they came to a 
well five or six feet deep, laid up with logs and covered by a large flat stone. 
It had evidently been worked by the aborigines." 

Nothing further is known of this spring, unless, as one has 
stated, it was near where Andrew Canfield began his clearing; 
or, as another makes it, on his farm (the one now owned by Eg- 
bert Stedwell) and near the line of Ira Brister's. It was cer- 
tainly on the Stedwell farm that a chartered company began 
operations about fifteen years later. 

January, 1831, the Hon. A. H. Eead, then member of assem- 
bly from this district, reported a bill to incorporate the "Wya- 
lusing Salt Manufacturing Company. In March following, it 
passed the House, and, a little later, probably the Senate; as, in 
October, of the same year, the commissioners who had been ap- 
pointed — Salmon Bosworth, Ira Brister, Jabez Hyde, Jr., Daniel 
Boss, Dimon Boswick — gave notice of a meeting of the stock- 
holders for the election of proper officers. Ira Brister was made 
president of the company; Otis Ross, now living in Middletown, 
was one of the stockholders ; and his son Norman, now in Mich- 
igan, superintended the sinking of the shaft in this spring to the 
depth of four or five hundred feet, "but did not find salt water, 
and the bits were left in the shaft." 

But this was not the first enterprise of the kind in Middletown. 
In 1825 R. H. Rose and Samuel Milligan had a well dug in the 
edge of the marsh, at the foot of the mountain, about half a mile 
above Middletown Center, on the farm formerly occupied by 
Silas Beardslee, and now owned by John Cahill ; and where 
several previous attempts to sink wells had been made, by dif- 
ferent parties, though these had been in the marsh, and were un- 
successful, on account of quicksands. 

The drilling made by the employes of Messrs. Rose & Milli- 
gan extended between four hundred and five hundred feet. In 
1828, the shaft was sunk fifty feet lower. Nine bushels and 
thirty-five pounds of salt were obtained here at one time ; and,, 
at another time, nine bushels and six pounds — at the rate of one- 
bushel from fifty gallons of water. The rock had been reached 
about twenty-six feet below the surface. 

The 'Susquehanna County Republican' of 1825 stated that 
the well had been examined by a gentleman well versed in the 
manufacture of salt, and " from his estimate of it," it was added,, 
"hopes are entertained that we shall be able to keep pace with 
our neighboring counties (blest with water privileges and canal 



500 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

prospects), in the march of prosperity and general improvement 
of the country." 

It was, probably, to this well that reference was made in ' Gor- 
don's Gazetteer,' published in 1832, by the remark that " it con- 
tains as much salt as the ordinary waters of Salina." 

John Darrow and David Green made salt in this well about 
1833, but by this time, those who had used the salt for two years, 
were ready to give it up ; it was said to contain a poisonous 
ingredient, fatal to cats and dogs, and on this account the well 
was abandoned. 

During the oil-fever of 1865, a well 600 feet in depth was 
sunk seventy feet from the Rose & Milligan well, by parties 
seeking for petroleum, but without success. This is known as 
the Coryell well. 

A few miles east of Mr. Brister's, on land owned formerly by 
Jesse Birchard, near the middle branch of the Wyalusing in 
Forest Lake, there was a spring, early celebrated as a deer and 
elk lick. It certainly seems strange that near a stream "where 
there were more deer licks than on any other stream in the 
country," salt in abundance has not been secured. The very 
name, by a signification elsewhere given, indicates that the 
vicinity was once an excellent place for hunting. 

■The following items are clipped from different published state- 
ments, which are endorsed by the proprietors of the Mineral 
Spring in Rush : — 

"This remarkable spring, situated about ten miles west of Montrose, and 
about three quarters of a mile from Snyder's hotel, near the Wyalusing 
Creek, in Rush, for some time has had more than a local reputation. Inva- 
lids, not only from this county, Binghamton, Owego, and other surrounding 
towns, but also from New York and Philadelphia, have visited the spring, 
and used its waters, which have been used for medicinal purposes by the 
inhabitants in the immediate vicinity, for more than half a century. It 
belonged to the Drinker estate, but for many years the title of the land was 
vested in Wm. D. Cope, Esq., of Philadelphia, a large land-owner in this 
county. He had, until recently, refused to part with his title." 

"A number of years ago, rude shower-baths were put up at the spring, free 
to the public use — or at most a slight compensation was charged, to assist 
in keeping up repairs. At times no less than 700 persons visited the baths 
in a single day. But the water was very cold, and there being no means of 
warming it. the baths fell into disuse, and went into decay. J. D. Pepper 
has occupied the land upon which the spring is situated, under a lease from 
Mr. Cope, for more than twenty years. Mr. Pepper has given away the 
water freely to all who came for it. He informs us that hundreds of people 
from the surrounding country visited this spring at all times of the year, and 
carried away its water in bottles, jugs, barrels, and other vessels in large 
quantities. The spring and farm upon which it is situated were purchased 
in 1869 by E. S. Butterfield, Esq., of Syracuse, N. Y., in company with his 
brother A. D. Butterfield, of Montrose, who have made preparations for 
bottling and selling its waters, and have erected a commodious house for the 
accommodation of invalids and others who desire to visit the spring, and use 
its waters." 

"The water of this spring, we are informed, has been found beneficial for 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 501 

most diseases of the kidneys, rheumatic and cutaneous affections, scrofula, 
and impurities of the blood. 

"The character of the water is clear, sparkling, and almost tasteless ; a 
fish will live in it but two or three hours. 

"The following is a qualitative analysis made by Dr. A. B. Prescott, pro- 
fessor of chemistry in Michigan University; his quantitative analysis being 
withheld to prevent the imposition of chemicals upon the public, pretending 
to contain the same constituents and properties as the water itself: — 

" Chlorides of magnesium, potassium, and lime ; carbonates of magnesia, 
soda, and lithia; phosphoric, silicic, and carbonic acids ; chlorine ; protoxide 
of iron." 

The following is a newspaper item : — 

"The mineral springs on the Riley Creek, about one mile south of the old 
John Riley farm, in Auburn, is causing some little excitement at present 
(1871). 

"All trace of the spring for the last twenty years was lost, until very 
recently. It has just been cleared and a barrel sunk in it, so that the water 
can be easily obtained. Many people are visiting the spring, and bringing 
away jugs and bottles of water to test its reported wonderful curative effects." 

Also, in Great Bend township an old spring appears to have 
been discovered, or at least, made available within a year or two. 
And still another : — 

" A mineral spring was discovered in 1871 on the farm of Widow John 
Rosencrants, in Dimock township, near the Meshoppen Creek, half a mile 
above the State Road. The water of this spring has not yet been analyzed ; 
but judging from the smell, taste, and appearances, the ingredients are sul- 
phur and iron. On confining the water in a jug, the presence of sulphur is 
acknowledged by all; and a portion of the iron precipitates itself from the 
water, in a few days' time, and the smell and taste soon disappear. Allow- 
ing the air to come in contact with the water in an open bottle, it turns to 
a dai'k color ; but if the bottle is kept corked, the water seems to remain good 
any length of time." 

At Oakland village may be seen remains indicating an ex- 
tinct oil enterprise which involved a considerable outlay, and 
the destruction of not a few ill-founded hopes. Still, in 1871, 
there are suppositions that petroleum may yet be found in the 
township. 

Little Meadows and Auburn oil-wells were owned by the 
Tuscarora Petroleum and Mining Company, the principal officers 
being located in Owego, N. Y., but the stockholders being in 
Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wyoming Counties. 

[The following account is furnished, upon request,, by M. L. 
Lacey, Esq.] 

The well in Auburn is on land now owned by A. F. and L. B 
Lacey, formerly by B. Billings. 

" The Petroleum Company here sunk their first well, along with about 
$9000 of their capital. The fact that upon one corner of the old Billings 
lot there was a deer lick in old times, a great resort for wild game— induced 
the early settlers to dig for salt. Men are yet living along the Susquehanna, 
who used to come here, when boys, with their kettles, and manufacture 
enough for their own use. This fact in connection with the large quantity 



502 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of inflammable gas that could be seen coming up from the bed of the creek 
at different places, induced the projectors of the company to believe that 
there might be treasure under ground, even here, that would pay for seek- 
ing. A few energetic men took the matter in hand and succeeded in 
organizing the company and raising sufficient capital to put down a well. 
The 17th November, 1865, witnessed the first blow towards driving the pipe, 
which struck the rock at a depth of sixty feet from the surface. By the 1st 
of January, 1866, the boring had reached a depth of 525 feet, passing through 
a crevice at the depth of 340 feet, and striking a vein of salt water strongly 
impregnated with sulphur : which commenced flowing from the well, accom- 
panied by inflammable gas, at the rate of two to three gallons per minute. At 
the depth of 493 feet, after passing through red shale, white quartz, gray wacke, 
and light, hard sand-rock, a crevice was struck which sent up a large quantity 
what oil men call ' black gas.' By the last day of January, a depth of 780 feet 
was reached, during the last 20 feet of which, the shows of oil were so abundant 
after passing the second sand-rock, that the company determined to cease 
boring for the purpose of testing the well. Owing to a delay in the ship- 
ment of the tubing, the test was not made for some two weeks, by which 
time the show of oil had almost entirely ceased. The test proving unsuc- 
cessful, the boring was resumed about the 20th of February, and continued 
until about the middle of March, at which time a depth of 1004 feet had 
been reached. After giving the well as thorough a test as was practicable 
with the means at the company's command, it was abandoned, and the engine 
and machinery removed to Little Meadows for the purpose of testing that 
section. Thus ended the most thorough attempt ever made to develop the 
mineral or oleaginous resources of Auburn. The experiment was watched 
with considerable curiosity, and many were disappointed that it did not prove 
an exception to nine out of every ten wells put down in the oil regions." 

At Little Meadows, also, the company's efforts were fruitless. 
Two wells about half a mile apart were sunk, but neither of them 
to half the depth of the Auburn well. The rock proved " too 
shelly," and the enterprise was abandoned. 

A well /was also sunk at Bear Swamp, by a gentleman from 
Owego, but without success. Some party or parties made an at- 
tempt at Friendsville, which proved a failure. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS. 

The following letter is Dr. R. H. Rose's reply to queries (ap- 
parently from a gentleman from Connecticut), respecting the 
quality of the soil, climate, etc., of Susquehanna County. 

Silver Lake, August 2, 1814. 

Sir : . . . The country here will admit of a general settlement ; there 
is a very small proportion of waste land. 

There is little interval land; the upland in general is equal if not supe- 
rior to the interval land in depth of soil. 

Twenty bushels of winter wheat per acre is a frequent crop ; twenty-five 
bushels is not unfrequent, and upwards of thirty have been raised. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 503 

Wheat, soon after harvest, generally sells from one dollar to one dollar and 
fifty cents, and from spring till the following harvest, from one dollar and 
fifty cents to two dollars per bushel. 

Good crops of Indian corn are raised ; it bears about two-thirds the price 
of wheat. 

The climate and soil are favorable to the production of apples, plumbs, 
peaches, pears, etc. The natural grape-vines grow to a great size, but their 
cultivation has not been attempted. 

Eighteen inches is considered a deep snow ; it has been two feet ; about a 
foot is the common depth. I do not recollect the commencement of the 
winter. Young leaves have been plucked on the 1st of April from the 
bushes. 

Good flax is raised. The potatoes are excellent and the product large. 

The country is as healthful as any part of America. The fever and ague 
is not known; we have no prevailing diseases. The typhus, malignant, or 
spotted fever of the Eastern States has not visited us. 1 The climate seems 
to agree remarkably well with the constitutions of the settlers from your State, 
and being in the same latitude as Connecticut, cannot be much different. 
The Connecticut settlers, however, say, we have not the long eastern storms 
to which they were subject. 

Labor is high, people preferring to clear farms for themselves to working 
for others ; another cause is the abundance of money in this state ; it was 
never more abundant than at present. In clearing, all the timber is cut 
down. The price of clearing and fencing is from twelve to fifteen dollars 
per acre ; the first crop generally pays this, if carefully put in, besides all 
the expenses of seed, harrowing, reaping, threshing, etc. The seed is har- 
rowed in without plowing ; grass seed is sown with the grain in the fall or 
the following spring. 

The houses are either frame or log ; none of stone, as we have not lime. 

An industrious, good farmer (and none other need come here), may, with 
common success, pay for his farm from the grain that he raises, for which he 
can always get cash and a good market. The country, however, is more 
particularly favorable to grass, and is not, it is presumed, exceeded in this 
respect by any part of the United States. 

Some parts afford plenty of chestnut timber for fencing ; in other parts it 
is scarce. White ash is used for rails in some places. There is very little 
oak timber in the country; what there is, is of a large size. White pine in 
some parts is plenty, large and good ; however, take the country generally, 
there is not more than is sufficient for its consumption. There is no walnut. 
Cherry is plenty and of a large size. 

Salt sells from four to five dollars per barrel of five bushels. 

Shad are caught in the Susquehanna. There are no salmon. The Sus- 
quehanna River is about ten miles distant from the tract, and is navigable 
with rafts, arks, and large boats to Baltimore. 

Cattle are dear. 

Wheat is sown in September and October, and reaped in July and August. 
Rye grows large ; it is frequently upwards of eight feet high. Very little 
spring wheat is sown. 

No slaves are allowed in the State. 

Springs are very numerous, the county abounds with them, no place is 
better watered. The water is cold, pure, and wholesome, of a soft and ex- 
cellent quality — dissolves soap well — has never been known to deposit a sedi- 
ment in tea-kettles, but has been observed by some persons from your State 
in a very short time to dissolve and remove obstructions of that kind from 
the kettles which they have brought into the country. 



1 Five years later it swept through the county. 



504 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



There are no streams here on which they raft boards, etc., until they get 
near the river. I believe there is not a rattle-snake on my tract. 

The settlers are mostly from Yermont, Connecticut, and New York. 
They are generally a moral, religious people, principally Presbyterians; there 
are some Baptists. Ministers of both denominations are established in the 
country. 

As to politics, there is very little party spirit here ; and it is the wish of 
the most respectable part of the community to avoid it as the bane of all 
social comfort. 

I will allow you ten per cent, commission out of all payments made to me 
for my wild lands by such persons as you shall send on as settlers — I sell to 
none else. 

I enclose you a small map of the land, and remain, Sir, 

Your obedient servant. 







Standard Value 


of Lands 


in 1816. 












Improved Lands. 


a 

XL 

< 


t 
SO 

"2 
ca 


"3 

a 
o 

o 

xi 
o 


1 

3 


a 
o 

Xt 

O 


3 

co 

a 

O 


,3 
u 

» 


a 
o 

S 

X 


a 

o 

$8 
6 
4 


6 
I 

03 

1-3 

$12 
8 
5 


V, 
a 
a 

<B 

$12 
8 
5 


a 

% 
■c 

s 

6 
4 


<2 

i 


xl 


6 
M 

z 

>■ 
ce 

$8 
6 
4 

1 


> 

60 

s, 

CO 

$1-2 
8 
6 


■p 
3 

"el 


Second quality 

Third quality 

Unseated lands.. . 


$8 

6 

4 

$1 to 3 


$30 

15 

10 

$2 to 5 


$12 

8 

6 

$1 to 3 


$14 
10 
6 


$11 

10 
6 


$20 
12 
6 


$12 

8 
6 


$16 
8 
4 


$20 

10 

5 

$lto4 


$16 

10 

5 

$lto3 


$12 
8 
6 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 

The first agricultural society in Susquehanna County was or- 
ganized January 27, 1820, and was mainly the result of the 
energy and enthusiasm of Eobert H. Eose. He was one of the 
corresponding secretaries of the Luzerne Agricultural Society, 
as early as 1810. 

The first officers of the society were : E. H. Eose, president ; 
Putnam Catlin, vice-president ; Isaac Post, treasurer ; J. W. 
Eaynsford, secretary ; I. P. Foster, recording secretary. 

The society held a meeting in September following its organi- 
zation, but in December it was deemed expedient to organize 
anew, so as to obtain the benefits of an act of assembly for the 
promotion of agricultural and domestic manufactures, passed in 
March preceding. 

The same president and secretary were re-elected December 6, 
1820; Dr. Asa Park, treasurer; Cols. Fred. Bailey and Thos. 
Parke, D. Post, Z. Bliss, Eufus Lines, Jonah Brewster, Joab 
Tyler, and Walter Lyon, Esqrs., Messrs. Calvin Leet and William 
Smith, directors. 

The meeting was opened with prayer by Elder Davis Dimock, 
and was followed by an address by Dr. Eose. In this he stated : — 

"The soil of the beech and maple lands which compose the greater part of 
Susquehanna County is a sandy loam, about eighteen inches in depth, resting 
on a compact bed of argillaceous earth and minute sand, which from its re- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 505 

tentive nature is extremely well calculated to prevent the escape of moisture, 
and to preserve the fertilizing quality of the manures which may be inter- 
mingled with the superincumbent soil." 

Dr. Eose was indefatigable in promoting farming interests ; 
offered large inducements to the raising of stock ; and in carry- 
ing out his own extensive plans, furnished employment to many 
persons ; thus incidentally extending his ideas doubtless to the 
permanent benefit of this section. 

The first agricultural show occurred November 10, 1821. Cap- 
tain Watrous's artillery company accompanied members to the 
court-house after they had viewed the stock, when they listened 
again to an address from the president. He said : "To the hilli- 
ness of the county we are indebted for the salubrity of the air, 
the abundance of the springs, and the purity of the water; also, 
for the fewest sheep with disordered livers. He referred to the 
fact that our soil is peculiarly adapted to grazing. He advised 
farmers to fatten cattle with grain in winter, discouraging distil- 
leries ; " whiskey must be taken in wagons to market, but cattle 
can walk to market with their fat; whiskey does mischief, good 
beef hurts no one." He believed $1000 worth of cattle could be 
driven from this county to New York or Philadelphia for the 
sum which it would cost to haul $1000 worth of wheat five miles. 

He stated that the cost of clearing land here was not more 
than the expense of hauling out the manure and ploughing old 
lands, and added : " Putnam Catlin, on his first settlement, cleared, 
a field of thirty acres ; the first crop of grain paid all the expenses 
of clearing and those attendant on the crop, paid for the land, 
and left $3.00 per acre over." 

Statements of the Agricultural Society for 1821. 

To personal subscriptions, personal and county donations, and 

paid for 1822 $177 00 

Paid the following persons premiums from $5 to $2, amounting to 109 00 

To William Ross, for the best acre of wheat ; David Post, best oats, and 
best half acre of potatoes ; R. H. Rose, best quarter acre ruta baga ; Jacob 
P. Dunn, best mare; Archi Marsh, best bull; John Griffin, best cow; 
Charles Perrigo, best yoke of oxen ; R. H. Rose, best ram ; Putnam Catlin, 
best ewe; William Ward, best boar; Robert Eldridge, best cheese; Peter 
Herkimer, greatest quantity of maple sugar (upwards of 100 tons were man- 
ufactured the previous spring in the county) ; R. H. Rose, best quality of 
maple sugar; (J. C. Sherman made 1127 pounds from 200 trees) ; Erastus 
Catlin, best woolen cloth; John Kingsley, second best do. ; Putnam Catlin, 
best specimen flannel; S. S. Mulford, best carpeting; Samuel Weston, best 
specimen linen; James Dean, second best do.; Jesse Sherman, best plough; 
R. H. Rose, best harrow; Dalton Tiffany, greatest quantity of stone fence ; 
Jonah Brewster, greatest quantity of harvesting without spirits ; Mrs. Rice, 
a grass bonnet; Mrs. Emmeline Chapman, a straw bonnet; William C. 
Turrel, hair cloth. 



506 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

For 1822. 

Premiums paid amounted to $89. October 9th, 1822. 

To Sylvanus Hatch, best breeding' mare ; Jesse A. Birchard, best bull ; 
Almon H. Read, cow ; Benjamin Hayden, oxen ; Archi Marsh, boar ; Zebulon 
Deans, sow ; David Turrel, one acre of corn (ninety-eight bushels and twenty- 
two quarts) ; Daniel Lathrop, wheat (twenty-six bushels and some quarts) ; 
Wm. C. Turrel, potatoes; Frederick Bailey, greatest quantity of cheese; 
Thomas Parke, best quality do. ; Allen Upson, greatest quantity and best 
quality of butter ; Charles Perrigo, best loaf of bread ; Peter Herkimer, 
greatest quantity of maple sugar; Isaac Smith, best quality do.; Joseph 
Butterfield, greatest quantity of stone wall ; Samuel Weston, greatest quan- 
tity of flax ; Wm. 0. Turrel, the greatest quantity of domestic manufactures 
in one family in one year; Mary Packer, best half-dozen worsted stockings ; 
Eunice Parke, best yarn stockings ; Ruth Duer, best coverlid ; Mary Packer, 
best quality of linen ; Harriet and Mary Crocker, second best do.; Sophia 
Rice, American Leghorn bonnet; Elisha Mack, best fanning-mill. 

In the spring of 1824 the 'Gazette' stated that the society had 
been " suffered to fall off, from lukewarmness in some, and by op- 
position in others ;" and urged the efficient members " to assemble, 
and come to such resolutions as they may deem proper, either 
for the revival of the old, or the establishment of a new society ;" 
neither of which is reported. 

In 1838, the number of farms was 2768, averaged size, 105 
acres; 5459 acres were given to wheat, 1624 to rye, 8404 to oats, 
3330 to corn ; meadow, 34,792 acres ; potatoes, 2367 ; turnips, 
73 ; buckwheat, 3546 ; flax, 195 ; ruta bagas, 32 (C. Carmalt raised 
200 bushels per acre). There were 3998 horses, 2919 oxen, 8187 
cows, 51,609 sheep, 9033 swine; 22,746 neat cattle of all kinds. 
Butter sold, 257,325 lbs.; cheese, 58,559 lbs; maple-sugar, 293,- 
783 lbs. 

The first call for a meeting of farmers and mechanics with 
practical results was made 7th January, 1846 ; on the 26th follow- 
ing a meeting was held at the court-house, when Wm. Jessup 
stated the object of the meeting; a committee of fifteen from 
different townships was appointed to draft a constitution, and 
another of three to prepare a circular calling attention to the 
subject; and a committee of five from each township to attend a 
meeting for organization. The latter took place March 4, 1846. 
Caleb Carmalt was chosen president; Benjamin Lathrop and 
Thomas Johnson, vice-presidents; Thomas Nicholson, correspond- 
ing secretary; Geo. Fuller, recording secretary; D. D. Warner, 
treasurer; Wm. Jessup, Wm. Main, Frederick Bailey, George 
Walker, Charles Tingley, Abraham Du Bois, Stephen Barnum, 
managers, or executive committee. The constitution and by-laws 
had been drafted by the committee the day before at Judge Jes- 
sup's office. 

Horticulture and domestic and rural economy were made 
objects of attention, though the " Promotion of Agriculture and 
the Mechanic Arts" was the principal aim of the society. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 507 

The first fair-ground was on land leased from David Post, 
adjoining the garden of Or. V. Bentley on the south, and now 
occupied by the residences of Dr. E. Thayer and Nelson Haw- 
ley. The road leading to it was long known as Fair Street. The 
lease was only a nominal one, the use of the land in reality being 
given. 

In November, 1861, the society procured of Avery Frink a 
deed of one hundred and three and a half perches of land in the 
upper part of the borough, which land with additions has been 
made the county fair-ground. 

The existing books of the society date only from 1861. At 
least two presidents had succeeded Caleb Garmalt previous to 
that year — Wrn. Jess up and Henry Drinker. 

The officers for 1861 and succeeding years have been as fol- 
lows : — 

Presidents, Abel Cassidy, M. L. Catlin, Samuel F. Oarmalt, Benjamin 
Parke, J. C. Morris, Wm. H. Jessup (five years), James B. Carmalt. 

Vice-Presidents, J. F. Deans, J. Blanding, Wm. H. Jessup, S. F. Car- 
malt, B. Parker, Stephen Breed, R. S. Birchard, H. M. Jones, M. L. Catlin, 
H. H. Harrington, David Summers, E. T. Tiffany, Eli Barnes, John Tewks- 
bury, F. H. Hollister, James Kasson, H. H. Skinner, C. J. Hollister, H. C. 
Conklin, Abner Griffis. 

Executive Committe (first appointed in 1863), Alfred Baldwin, S. F. Car- 
malt, J. C. Morris, F. H. Hollister, J. S. Tarbell, J. E. Carmalt, A. Frink, 
H. H. Skinner, H. H. Harrington, D. F. Austin, Allen Shelden. [Three on 
committee, one new one each year.J 

Recording Secretaries, C. L. Brown (four years), C. M. Gere (two years), 
C. W. Tyler, G. A. Jessup, M. M. Mott, H. C. Tyler. 

Corresponding Secretaries, C. M. Gere (two years), A. N. Bullard, C. L. 
Brown, C. W. Tyler, J. E. Carmalt, G. A. Jessup, J. R. Lyons. 

Treasurers, Azor Lathrop, C. M. Gere (1868-72). 

1861. Membership, $1 00 per annum. 

1862. Life membership on payment of $10 00. 

1863. Society out of debt, a condition necessary to secure the legacy of 
C. Carmalt. 

1864. In January it was resolved to institute proceedings to procure a 
charter, and Henry Drinker, Wm. H. Jessup, and S. F. Carmalt constituted 
the committee appointed for this purpose. The petition presented to the 
court April 12th was signed by twenty-nine " Members associated for the 
advancement of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts." The society was fully 
incorporated August 24, 1864. 

During this year, and while president of the society, S. F. Car- 
malt died, and Benjamin Parke (V. P.) filled the vacancy until 
his own election in 1865. From his address before the society 
October 5, 1865, at the nineteenth annual fair the following para- 
graph is taken : — 

" Having attended the State Agricultural Fair at Williamsport last week, 
I can say that, with the exception of a very few fine horses there exhibited, 
the stock now upon this ground exceeds in number, and is superior in quality 
to that exhibited at the State fair; and setting aside the agricultural imple- 
ments and machinery, the manufactures and specimens of merchandise — 
much of which was from other States and exhibited as an advertisement to 



508 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the public — with the expensively prepared and very elegant floral tent, with 
its fountain and walks, our fair as an agricultural exhibition is fully its 
equal. 

" Susquehanna is probably the butter county of our State. No better 
quality of butter is made any where than is here made. The increased price 
and the facility of sending it to New York and Philadelphia has not only 
stimulated but largely increased its production within the past few years. 

"The establishment of cheese factories, and their great success wherever 
established, will gradually work a change in the dairy business ; which, with- 
out lessening the profits, will greatly lessen the labor and care, and add 
much to the health and comfort of dairy women and their children." 

HON. BENJAMIN PARKE, LL.D. 

Benjamin Parke, LL.D., is a son of Col. Thomas Parke, the first settler 
of Dimock. He left home at the age of twenty-three to study his profes- 
sion, and afterwards settled at Harrisburg as an attorney-at-law. While 
there Mr. P., in company with Wm. F. Packer (afterwards governor), edited 
and published the 'Keystone,' then the central and leading organ of the Demo- 
cratic party of Pennsylvania. After disposing of that paper he for a time 
edited the ' Harrisburg Argus,' and commenced the publication of the 
' Pennsylvania Farmer and Common-School Intelligencer.' 

In 1834 he was appointed by Governor Wolf to be the prothonotary of the 
Middle District of the Supreme Court, consisting of sixteen counties. He 
also held the office of commissioner in bankruptcy, and was the principal 
compiler of Parke and Johnson's 'Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania,' 
published in 1837. 

After thirty years of professional toil he returned to Susquehanna County, 
and now glories in being numbered among her farmers. 

1866. The Agricultural Society had a balance of $1019 79 in 
the treasury. The land from the I. Post estate was deeded to 
the society — eight acres and three and a half perches, and addi- 
tional land was procured from General D. D. Warner. 

1867. Premiums on native cattle abolished. Premiums to 
boys under nineteen years of age for plowing to be the same as 
to men. 

1868. Article XV. added to constitution, making only citi- 
zens of Pennsylvania and of Susquehanna County eligible to 
office in the society. 

Resolution to make trial of mowers and reapers in June and 
July. 

1869. Amendment of Article VI.. relative to meetings of society, 
making them the first Tuesday evening of each quarter sessions 
of court. 

Three days to be given to the fair, the first for plowing, as 
usual. 

1870. Among the premiums offered were one year's subscrip- 
tion- to the 'Scientific American,' 'American Agriculturist,' and 
' Horticultural Journal.' 

Proposed sale of stock at the fair, and to dig a well upon 
Pair Ground. Boys must be sixteen years of age to compete in 
plowing. 

1871. Plans of new buildings. Change in mode of "electing 



^^fea^ 







c?%^^ 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 509 

officers to be more democratic. At the twenty-fifth fair, in the 
fall of 1871, when there were one-third more entries than on any 
previous year, over $1000 were taken in. 

Fairs to be between the 10th September and the 20th October, 
and time to be fixed by executive committee. 

1872. There have been eighty life members. 

There are three cheese factories in the county, one on the farm 
of Sayre brothers in Silver Lake, one in South Bridgewater, and 
the third on the Asa Packer farm in Springville. The last is 
more extensive than the others, having capacity for the daily use 
of the milk of five hundred cows. 

The Jackson Agricultural Society was organized in 1856 ; E. 
Harris, president, Wm. H. Bartlett. secretary and treasurer. It 
suspended on the breaking out of the war. 

Glenwood Agricultural Fair was held in 1861-62-63, and then 
removed to Nicholson. F. P. Grow was president, and Asa 
Eaton, treasurer. 

Harford Agricultural Society was established in 1866 — the 
fifteenth annual fair taking place in the fall of 1872. The 
present president is H. M. Jones; secretary, E. C. Carpenter. 
Ira H. Parrish, D. L. Hine, Jackson Tingley, executive committee. 

The Friendsville Fair, of several years' standing, is for the 
sale of stock, rather than its exhibition, no premiums being given. 

The Canawacta Agricultural Society, now inactive, has a driv- 
ing park in Oakland, which was graded at a cost of $1000. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

ROADS, POST-OFFICES, ETC. 

If the surmise respecting '• Ellicott's Road" — a road sometimes 
referred to in the earliest court records — is correct, it was the 
passage cut, in 1786, for the transportation of supplies during 
the running of the State line between New York and Pennsyl- 
vania, Andrew Ellicott 1 being the commissioner on the part of 
the latter in this business. On the 16th June, 1786 — 

" The General Assembly of Pennsylvania appointed Andrew Ellicott com- 
missioner, to run and mark the northern boundary of the Commonwealth, 
and the State of New York appointed Samuel Holland and David Ritten- 
house. They ascertained and fixed the beginning of the forty-third degree 
of north latitude on the Mohawk, or western branch of the Delaware — 
planted a stone marked New York, 1774, cut on the north side ; and on 



1 Can it be that he was employed to survey the road once planned by the 
State to stretch across this section to Tioga Point ? Such a route will be seen 
on map of old Luzerne. 



510 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the west side of said branch of the Delaware placed a heap of stones at 
water-mark, and, proceeding further west four perches, planted another 
stone with the words Pennsylvania cut on the south side thereof." . . . 
" And the said Andrew Ellicott, on the part of this Commonwealth, and 
James Clinton and Simeon Dewitt, on the part of the State of New York, 
did, in the year of our Lord ] 786-7, in pursuance of the powers vested in 
them, run, fix, and ascertain the said boundary line, beginning at the first 
mentioned stone, and extending due west by a line of mile-stones to the 
bank of Lake line, etc." 

The road terminating, in 1789, at the mouth of Cascade Creek, 
was the first in the county for general travel. In 1791 a road 
was cut through from the Delaware to Great Bend ; the general 
course of it being since followed by the Newburgh turnpike. 
The early township roads have been mentioned in the Annals, 
with the road in 1798 from Tunkhannock to Great Bend, and 
another (1799-1801) from the forks of the Wyalusing to join the 
latter. 

THE NEWBURGH TURNPIKE. 

The first turnpike in the county connected Great Bend 
with Newburgh on the Hudson. It was begun in 1806 and 
finished in 1811. In the fall of 1872, a final meeting of the 
directors of the old Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike com- 
pany was held at Newburgh. At Cochecton, on the Delaware 
Eiver, the road referred to connected with the Cochecton and 
Great Bend turnpike, and together they were familiarly styled the 
Newburgh turnpike. This was among the first great highways 
constructed. Leading west from the Hudson River only one other 
preceded it — that leading from Albany westward. As the old 
landmark is no longer of any value to the stockholders, they 
are about giving it over to the several towns through which it 
runs. The length of the road from Cochecton to Great Bend is 
fifty miles. Beginning at the Delaware River, it passes through 
the towns of Damascus, Lebanon, and Mount Pleasant, in Wayne 
County; and Gibson, New Milford, and Great Bend in Susque- 
hanna County. The act incorporating this pike was passed 29th 
March, 1801. Henry Drinker, Ed. Tilghman, Thos. Harrison, 
and Wm. Poyntell, of Philadelphia ; John Conklin, Jason Torry, 
and Samuel Stanton, of Wayne County ; Asahel Gregory, John 
Tyler, and Minna Du Bois of Luzerne (now Susquehanna) 
County, were appointed commissioners of the road. The road 
received no assistance from the State. 

4i It was built by individual enterprise ; most of the stock was taken on 
the line of the road. It was constructed twenty feet wide, at a cost of $1620 
per mile. The materials are earth, stone, lime, and timber. Its form was 
convex, being about four inches higher in the centre than at the sides. 
During the first three years it paid a debt of $11,000, besides keeping itself 
in repair. Some portions of this part of the State owe their early existence 
and growth to this road. It gave a decided impulse to the increase of popu- 
lation and improvements to the surrounding country." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 511 



THE MILFORD AND OWEGO TURNPIKE. 

Passed 26th of January, 1807, an act to authorize the Governor 
to incorporate a company for making an artificial road by the 
nearest and best route, through the counties of Wayne and Lu- 
zerne, beginning at the river Delaware, where the proposed 
bridge is to be built, near the town of Milford, thence through 
the said town and the counties aforesaid to or near the forty-third 
mile-stone in the north line of the State. Time for completing 
the road extended to December 1, 1826. 

By the act of 24th of March, 1817, the Governor was authori- 
zed to subscribe $16,000 to the stock of the company, and as 
soon as five miles of the road is completed between Montrose 
and the Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike, he is required 
to draw his warrant for a sum in proportion to the whole dis- 
tance, and a like sum for every five miles, until the whole sum 
shall be drawn. It cost $1300 per mile. 

The president and managers of the Milford and Owego turn- 
pike were authorized, by act of 20th of March, 1830, " to con- 
struct a branch or lateral turnpike road, beginning at or near 
Dundaff, thence to Carbondale, in Luzerne County, and thence 
to intersect the said Milford and Ohio turnpike road at the most 
convenient point east of the Lackawanna Creek." 

STATE ROAD. 

In 1808 an act was passed authorizing commissioners to explore 
and mark out a road from where the Cochecton turnpike passes 
through Moosic Mountain to the west line of the State. This 
road is probably the one that left the turnpike at Robert Chand- 
ler's in Gibson, and running westward reached the Wyalusing at 
Grangerville. 

BRIDGEWATER AND WILKES-BARRE TURNPIKE. 

An act was passed 30th March, 1811, to incorporate a company 
for making a road from the northern boundary line of this State 
at the most suitable place, near the 28th mile-stone, to the place 
where the seat of justice is established for the county of Susque- 
hanna, thence by best and nearest route to borough of Wilkes- 
Barre. The road was begun in 1813. The Clifford and Wilkes- 
Barre turnpike was also begun that year, and cost $1200 per 
mile. 

In 1818 books were opened for subscription to stock in the 
New Milford and Montrose turnpike ; but it appears there never 
has been a turnpike between these two points, though more than 
twenty years later the subject was again engaging the attention 
of some of our most enterprising men. 



512 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

PHILADELPHIA AND GREAT BEND TURNPIKE. 

In 1818 the legislature passed "an act to authorize the gov- 
ernor to incorporate the President, Managers, and Company of. 
the Philadelphia and Great Bend Turnpike Road," which should 
" commence at or near the 30th mile-stone on the Easton and 
Wilkes-Barre turnpike road, pass over the nearest and best 
ground through Leggett's Gap in Lackawannock Mountain, and 
terminate on the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike road, at or 
near the tavern of Ithamer Mott, in the county of Susquehanna." 
Work upon the road was begun in 1821. It followed the Nine 
Partners' Creek through Harford to Lenox post-office and Lenox- 
ville, thence to the southern boundary of our county and below, 
as ordered by the act of legislature. Messrs. Thomas Meredith, 
William Ward, and Henry W. Drinker appear to have had charge 
of the contracts on this road — much of the business, at least, was 
in their hands. This great thoroughfare has ceased to be a toll 
road, and the travel over it is limited almost entirely to local 
business; but, in its day, it served to open a most desirable com- 
munication with Philadelphia, and contributed greatly to the ad- 
vantage of the county. 

The Belmont and Ochquaga turnpike was begun in 1821 and 
finished in 1825. The following turnpikes were incorporated as 
follows : — 

Abington and Waterford, January, 1823 ; Dundaff and Tunk- 
hannock, April, 1828; Dundaff and Honesdale, March, 1831; 
Lenox and Harmony, April, 1835 ; Lenox and Carbondale (past 
Clifford Corners), March, 1842, extended to South Gibson by act 
March, 1847; Brooklyn and Lenox, March, 1848 ; Tunkhannock 
Creek Company, March, 1849. 

RAILROADS. 

Among the earliest items respecting railroads in Susquehanna 
County we find the description of a route considered feasible as 
early as 1832. The immediate object then was to connect Owego 
with the Lackawanna coal-field, and a railroad was proposed — 

" From the mouth of the Choconut Creek to its headwaters, thence to 
Forest Lake, thence by the valley of Pond Creek to near its mouth, thence 
across by the headwaters of the east branch of the Wyalusing, and thence by 
the best route to the headwaters of Horton's Creek, following said creek till 
it falls into the Tunkhannock." 

The same year, at a meeting held in Friends ville the 7th of March, 
of which Samuel Milligan was president, Parley Coburn, vice- 
president, and George Walker and Ira Brister, secretaries, another 
route was proposed : from Owego, by the valleys of the Apola- 
con and the north branch of the Wyalusing, thence by the east 
branch to the vicinity of Montrose, and thence striking Horton's 
Creek, to follow it as above. It was claimed that the distance by 
this route from the Tunkhannock to Owego would be six miles 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 513 

shorter than down the Salt Lick and via Great Bend to the same 
place, a survey of which was even then being made. 

Mr. Milligan's speech, at the meeting referred to, was a very 
able one. After a reyiew of the different routes proposed, he 
argued in favor of Montrose, stating the advantages of having a 
road run somewhat diagonally through the county. 

A route similar to the last mentioned was proposed early in 
1833 :— 

" From Tunkhannock up the Hopbottom Creek to its head, thence by a 
moderate rise to the headwaters of the Snake Creek, down the Snake to its 
junction with the Silver Creek, thence up the Silver Creek, and thence by 
the Mud Creek to its forks ; up the middle branch of Mud Creek to its head, 
thence by easy ground to a small creek emptying into Choconut Creek, and 
along Choconut Valley to the boundary of the State, where it could be taken 
up and continued by the people of Owego." 

Still another was " from the mouth of Snake Creek to the head 
of the east branch of it, thence by the waters of Wolf Creek by 
Kingsley's mills to its intersection with the Hopbottom, and 
thence by said creek till it shall intersect Martin's Creek on 
James Seymour's route," etc. ; for a little before this time, the late 
James Seymour had been appointed to make the survey of a 
road from some point on the Lackawanna, passing through Leg- 
gett's Gap, and by the way of the Tunkhannock and Martin's 
Creek to Great Bend on the Susquehanna. 

All these projects were lost sight of apparently for some years 
upon the construction of a road westward from New York through 
Owego. 

New York and Brie Railroad. — Extended reference to this 
road having been already made in the Annals, little need be 
added here. The following is an item from the ' Register' of 
February, 1841 : " We are glad to see that our representative, F. 
Lusk, Esq., has procured the passage of a bill through the House 
to allow the New York and Erie Railroad to be laid through a 
portion of this county if required." 

"Erie's Great Rival." — The Delaware, Lackawanna, and 
Western Railroad proper extends from Great Bend, near the 
northern boundary of Pennsylvania, to the Delaware River, at a 
point about seven miles south of the Delaware Water Gap, 
through which it passes. 

Exclusive of its recent extensions and roads acquired by lease, 
the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company comprises two 
divisions — the Northern and Southern — the former extending 
from Great Bend to Scranton (49 miles), and the latter from 
Scranton to the Delaware River (64 miles). The Northern Divi- 
sion was the first opened, October, 185 L. The original organization 
was the Leggett's Gap Railroad Company. During the same year 
33 



514 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the title was changed to the Lackawanna and Western Eailroad 
Company. 

The Southern Division was organized as the Delaware and 
Cobb's Gap Eailroad Company, and finished in May, 1856. The 
two divisions were consolidated in April, 1853, under the style 
of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Eailroad Company. 

The object in constructing this railroad was to find an outlet 
north and east for the vast deposits of coal in the Lackawanna 
and Wyoming Valleys, as well as to build up a large manufac- 
turing interest midway at a point where both coal and iron ore 
could be supplied with little or no cost of transportation. 

Shortly after leaving Nicholson, the road reaches Martin's 
Creek, finds the summit at New Milford, and goes down Salt Lick 
to Great Bend, where it joins the New York and Erie. 

The Valley Eailroad is of great importance to the Delaware, 
Lackawanna, and Western Company. It completes their line of 
325 miles from New York to Oswego, leading to the greatest coal 
markets in the State. The divisions are as follows: Morris and 
Essex, from New York to Scranton, 149 miles; Delaware, Lacka- 
wanna, and Western, from Scranton to Great Bend, 47 miles ; 
Valley, from Great Bend to Binghamton, 14 miles ; Syracuse 
and Binghamton, 80 miles ; Oswego and Syracuse, 35 miles. 

The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company formerly 
paid about $400,000 a year for the privilege of running their 
coal and freight trains over fourteen miles of Erie track. 

The Lackawanna and Susquehanna Eailroad is a branch of the 
Albany and Susquehanna, connecting with the latter at Nineveh, 
New York, and with the Jefferson Eailroad near Starucca Via- 
duct, at Lanesboro, Susquehanna County. It is twenty-two 
miles in length. 

" A charter was obtained at an early day, we believe as early 
as the year 1828, for a railroad from the Lackawanna Valley to 
Lanesboro. Other charters were also obtained at later dates, 
but nothing was effected toward building a railroad until Col. C. 
Freeman, member of assembly from Wayne County, at the ses- 
sion of 1851, secured a charter for the Jefferson Eailroad Com- 
pany, with Earl Wheeler, Charles S. Minor, Francis B. Penni- 
man, and Benjamin B. Smith as corporators. This company 
was authorized to build a railroad from any point on the Dela- 
ware Eiver, in Pike County, to the Susquehanna Eiver, in Sus- 
quehanna County, through the county of Wayne. Under it a 
railroad has been built from the mouth of the Lackawanna, in 
Pike County, up said stream to Honesdale, under the auspices of 
the New York and Erie Eailroad Company. Also the same 
company (the N. Y. and Erie), have under it built a railroad from 
Carbondale, north, through the eastern border of Susquehanna 
County, to Lanesboro. This latter road has been built under an 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 515 

arrangement with the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 
they furnishing the money, it is stated, by guaranteeing bonds 
of the Boston, Hartford, and Erie Railroad to a certain amount, 
and receiving payment in tolls upon coal, on the Jefferson Rail- 
road, and other lines of the New York and Erie Railroad Com- 
pany. A third rail has been laid upon this Jefferson Road to 
accommodate cars of different gauges. It is proposed to connect 
the two sections of the Jefferson Railroad, which will probably be 
done by a road extending up the Dyberry branch of the Lacka- 
wanna, from Honesdale either to the Ararat Summit, or through 
Griswold's Gap to Forest City station. [Hon. S. S. Benedict.] 

The Montrose Railroad. — The public began to be interested 
in this enterprise during the summer of 1868. 

At a large and enthusiastic meeting in Montrose, January 20, 
1869— 

" B. S. Bentley gave it as his opinion that a railroad would be built 
through Montrose within five years, or never. Here were the two interests 
that must and would be brought together — the Albany and Susquehanna 
Railroad and the consumers of coal in the region through which it passes, 
on the one hand, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the coal fields of 
which it is an outlet, on the other. The railroad by which these two inter- 
ests are to be connected must pass through Susquehanna County, either by 
the proposed Montrose route or by another further west. 

"If the people of Montrose show a determination to build it, then Judge 
Packer and the Albany and Susquehanna Road will no doubt lend their aid. 
W. H. Jessup spoke much to the same effect, urging the importance of im- 
mediate action, and the procuring of proper legislation to forward the object. 
W. J. Turrell stated that Judge Packer had said it was quite important to 
the mining region to have access to the agricultural products of Susque- 
hanna County. 

" George Walker stated some facts with regard to the two routes — the 
Tunkhannock and that from Meshoppen. The Meshoppen route is some- 
what shorter, being only 20 miles, and has a grade of about 60 feet to the 
mile. The Tunkhannock route has a grade of 100 feet to the mile for the 
first four miles, and after that only 40 feet. 

"On motion, Messrs. Abner Griffis, F. B. Chandler, and S. H. Sayre were 
appointed a committee on permanent organization, to report at the next 
meeting. On motion, W. H. Jessup and W. J. Turrell were appointed to 
prepare a charter and obtain an act of incorporation by the legislature for 
a railroad from some point on the Lehigh Valley Road at or near Tunkhan- 
nock or Meshoppen, to the State line of New York, with a view to connect- 
ing with the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad at Binghamton." 

We gather the following from the annual report of the Mon- 
trose Railroad Company, January 8th, 1872 : — 

" In pursuance of the charter granted by the legislature of Pennsylvania 
incorporating the Montrose Railway Company, a meeting was held at the 
public school-house in Springville, on the 27th day of April, A. D. 1871, 
when the following gentlemen were duly elected : — 

" President — James I. Blakeslee. 

" Directors — Wm. H. Cooper, Samuel H. Sayre, H. K. Sherman, Samue 
Stark, C. L. Brown, C. M. Gere, D. Thomas, G. K. Palen, W. H. Jessup, S. 
Tyler, B. F. Blakeslee, Felix Ansart. 

"At the first meeting of the board, held at Springville, on the 27th of May 



516 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

following, it was directed that a corps of engineers be at once employed 
under the supervision of Mr. F. Ansart, Jr., to survey and locate a cheap 
route for a narrow gauge railroad, extending from Tunkhannock to Mon- 
trose. It is believed that a narrow gauge road will be sufficient for all the 
business likely to be offered, and the cost of construction being so much 
less than a wide, or a four feet eight and a half inch gauge, it is expected 
that handsome dividends will be earned, which would hardly result from a 
first-class wide gauge road. 

"The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company has agreed to furnish the rails, ties, 
spikes, and splices necessary for the superstructure, as soon as the grading 
has been completed and paid for, by receipts from stock subscriptions; they 
agreeing, also, to receive the payment due them in stock at par. That com- 
pany has contracted for the greater number of the ties to be furnished from 
along the route of the proposed road, and they will thus distribute some ten 
thousand dollars to parties who may have taken more stock than they could 
otherwise conveniently provide for. 

"The survey was commenced on the 15th of May, 1871. The work is now 
under contract and progressing favorably. 

" The line runs from the depot of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal 
and Railroad Company, at Tunkhannock, to Marcy's Pond, thence along the 
west bank of the pond to a summit between the waters of Marcy's Pond and 
the Meshoppen Creek ; crossing the same, it runs in nearly a direct line to 
the village of Springville ; thence by the village of Dimock, into the borough 
of Montrose. 

"The length of the road is twenty-seven and twelve one-hundredth miles. 
The present terminus of the road at Montrose is 1045 feet Jiigher than the 
railroad of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company at 
Tunkhannock. There are six principal summits : the Marcy's Pond Sum- 
mit, Lemon, Springville, Wcodbourne, Decker, and Montrose." 

The engineer reports : — 

" In grading the road, 120.000 cubic yards of material will have to be 
moved. There will be 4000 cubic yards of rectangular culvert masonry ; 
500 cubic yards of bridge masonry ; and two bridges, each of one hundred 
feet in length, one across the canal at Tunkhannock, and across Meshoppen 
Creek. There will be six hundred feet of trestling, of the average height of 
26 feet. 

" As the road is under contract to be built ready for the track for $101,000, 
this sum can be taken for an approximate estimate of the cost of graduation, 
masonry, bridges, trestling, grubbing, and clearing." 

Prior to September 16, 1872, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com- 
pany had expended $91,000 on the Montrose Railroad. Hon. 
Asa Packer's offer to furnish the rolling-stock holds good. 

We understand that the Susquehanna Depot people are really 
in earnest and wide-awake on the question of extending the Mon- 
trose Railroad to their borough. 

We bave received a map of "The Skinner's Eddy and Little 
Meadows Railroad," which it is proposed to build from the 
north branch division of the Lehigh Yalley Railroad Company's 
river route, at Skinner's Eddy, northward to Owego, with a 
branch from Little Meadows to Binghamton. 

Another road is proposed from Binghamton to the coal fields 
of Sullivan County, and through Sullivan and Lycoming Coun- 
ties to the city of Williamsport : — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 517 

" A survey of the line from Binghamton to Dushore, in Sullivan County, is 
to be made by John Evans. The route to be first surveyed is down the 
Susquehanna River, on the south side, to near the mouth of the Choconut 
Creek, and then up the creek to the summit of St. Joseph's, and thence down 
the Wyalusing Creek to Wyalusing village, on the Susquehanna River; 
thence, continuing in a southwest direction up a small stream known as 
Sugar Run, and on to Dushore. The distance from Binghamton to Dushore 
is 45 miles, and it is expected a good grade can be found the whole distance. 

" At Dushore, connections will be made with a railroad now partly built to 
Williamsport. The distance from Dushore to Williamsport is 63 miles ; 
making the entire distance from Binghamton to Williamsport 108 miles." 

Joel and L. M. Turrell, engineers, have, from maps and sur- 
veys, made the following comparison of the advantages of the 
Wyalusing and Choconut, and the Skinner's Eddy and Little 
Meadows routes : — 

"From forks of the Wyalusing (the present terminus of the proposed Wya- 
lusing Railway), to Binghamton by the Apolacon Creek, about where a rail- 
way would have to be built, it is (33|) thirty-three and three-quarters miles; and 
from the said forks to Binghamton by the Choconut Creek it is (30) thirty miles. 
The difference is 3f miles in favor of the Choconut route to the Wyalusing. 
These measurements both extend to one mile above the lower bridge at 
Binghamton. 

"From the covered bridge in Binghamton to the State line, by the way of 
Apolacon Creek, the distance is 18 miles ; by the Choconut Creek it is 12| 
miles ; difference in favor of the Choconut route, 5^ miles. The amount 
that would be saved to New York capital, by shortening the distance to the 
State line, would, it is thought, be sufficient to build the bridge at Bing- 
hamton." 

One or two railroads are talked of in the eastern part of the 
county. 

POST-OFFICES OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, 1872. 

The names in small caps are boroughs. 

No. of 
Townships. Post-offices. Offices. 

Apolacon, Little Meadows, 1 

Ararat, Ararat, 1 

Auburn, Auburn Center, Auburn Four Corners, South Auburn, 

West Auburn, 4 

Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Montrose (c. h.), 2 

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Montrose Depot, 2 

Choconut, Choconut, Saint Joseph, Feiendsville, 3 

Clifford, Clifford, Dundaff, 2 

Dimock, Dimock, East Dimock, Elk Lake, 3 

Forest Lake, Forest Lake, Forest Lake Center, Birchardville, 3 

Franklin, Franklin Forks, Upsonville, 2 

Gibson, Gibson, Smiley, South Gibson, 3 

Great Bend, Great Bend, Great Bend Village. 2 

Harford. Harford, Oakley, 2 

Harmony, Harmony Center. Lanesboro, 2 

Herrick, Herrick Center, Uniondale, 2 

Jackson, Jackson, North Jackson, 2 

Jessup, Fairdale, 1 

Lathrop, Lathrop, Hopbottom, 2 

Liberty, Lawsville Center, Brookdale, 2 



518 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

No. of 

Townships. Post-offices. Offices. 

Lenox, Lenoxville, West Lenox, Glenwood, 3 

Middletown, Middletown Centre, Jackson Valley, 2 

New Milford, New Milford, 1 

Oakland, Susquehanna Depot, 1 

Rush, Rush, East Rush. Rush Four Corners, Rushville, 4 

Silver Lake, Silver Lake, Richmond Hill, Brackney, Sheldon, 4 

Springville, Springville, Lynn, Niven, 3 

Thomson, Thomson, 1 

BANKS. 

Silver Lake Bank, at Montrose. — The books were opened for subscrip- 
tions June 6, 1814. The bank was fully organized with board of directors. 
Jan. 4, 18.17. It began to discount April 10, 1817. Suspended Aug. 7, 1819, 
but resumed after a very short time, and continued in operation ten years 
longer, when the bill for its re-charter was lost. 

Northern Bank of Pennsylvania, at Dundaff. — Established probably 
early in 1825, and closed Jan. 1827. 

Bank of Susquehanna County, at Montrose. — Established in 1837 ; failed 
Nov. 1849. 

A bank for discount existed in Great Bend, March, 1842. 

Post, Cooper & Co. commenced business (banking) in Montrose, Nov. 1855, 
and were succeeded by Wm. H. Cooper & Co., May, 1859. 

S. B. Chase has a Savings Bank at New Milford. There is one also at 
Great Bend. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

CHANGES IN POLITICS. 

"While included in Luzerne, the vote of this section was too 
light to be of importance. Nearly the whole territory of what 
is now Susquehanna County was comprised, in 1792, in the elec- 
tion district of Willingborough, which was 36 x 20 miles in ex- 
tent. Elections were ordered to be held at the house of Horatio 
Strong. In 1804 it was divided into two districts ; elections for 
Willingborough were held at the house of C. Longstreet (then 
at New Milford), and for Rush, at the house of Jabez Hyde. These 
were the first general elections here on record, so far as ascer- 
tained. The vote for Congressman was 324. 

In 1807 the vote for Senator was a little over 200. 

In 1808 the same territory included six districts: Willingbor- 
ough, Rush, Nicholson, Clifford, Harford, and Bridgewater. 

In the first political excitements shared by the people of this 
section, parties were divided into Federalists and Republicans 
or Democrats. 

The Federalists claimed to be sole adherents of the policy of 
Washington, and charged the opposite party with imbibing 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 519 

French principles. The Republicans or Democrats considered 
themselves the exclusive friends of liberty. The former had 
elected John Adams for president; the latter found their choice 
in Thomas Jefferson, who was in the minority, and therefore by 
the law of that time, the vice-president. 

The two parties were also divided upon the subject of the fund- 
ing of National and State debts, and upon the banking system ; the 
"Feds" for a National Bank, Jefferson against it. The disputes 
upon these subjects may fairly be said to be the origin of that 
violent party-spirit which for thirty years arrayed one part of the 
American community against the other. 

When a second war with England was imminent, the Demo- 
crats favored the war policy, but the Federalists opposed it. "Is 
the war justifiable?" was a fruitful theme of discussion here as 
elsewhere. 

It was at this juncture, in the fall of 1812, that the first Demo- 
cratic and Federal tickets in Susquehanna County were issued. 
The Democrats nominated for sheriff, Asa Dimock and W. C. 
Turrell ; for commissioners, Isaac Brownson, Bartlet Hinds, La- 
ban Capron ; for coroner, Stephen Wilson and II. Leach, Jr. The 
Federalists nominated for sheriff, J. Carpenter and Edward Ful- 
ler; for commissioners, Myron Kasson, Caleb Richardson, and J. 
W. Raynsford ; for coroner, Jos. Washburn and Rufus Lines. 
This was at a meeting at I. Post's, September 14th; John Tyler, 
chairman ; I. A. Chapman, secretary. 

In 1813 the " Friends of Peace" met at Howell's (Montrose), to 
cousult ; Thomas Parke, chairman ; Edw. Fuller, secretary. 

The election districts this year were seven: Bridgewater, elec- 
tions held at I. Post's ; " New District" of Bridgewater, at Thos. 
Parke's; Rush with Braintrim, Susquehanna County, at Jabez 
Hyde's; Harford and Nicholson, Susquehanna County, at H. Tif- 
fany's; Clifford, at A. Gregory's; Choconut and Silver Lake, at 
Levi Smith's ; and the rest of the county, comprised in the dis- 
trict of Willingborough, at Josiah Stewart's. 

The Federalist party was broken up by its opposition to the 
war, but new opponents were obtained by a division of the Re- 
publican party. The new ticket recommended Hiester for gov- 
ernor, in opposition to the renomination of Governor Findlay, 
and was supported by Isaac Post, Asa Park, and Samuel Hodg- 
don as prime movers. 

The 'Republican Reformer,' a campaign paper, was the expo- 
nent of their views. The Whig party, as it came to be called in 
Jackson's time, was now forming in opposition to the Republi- 
can — thenceforth known as the Democratic party. The Whigs 
were in favor of a protective tariff; the Democrats opposed it. 
A "Democratic Republican" was not considered a paradox. 

In 1823, the vote for governor in Susquehanna County was 



520 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1202. Party spirit ran high. Each of the two political papers 
of the county claimed to be the Democratic one, though they 
were opposite in sentiment. 

A. H. Bead, who was first nominated for the State Legislature 
by Isaac Post, in opposition to the regular party, afterwards be- 
came the regular party man. Prior to 1825 the county vote 
fluctuated between different parties ; but thereafter, for thirty 
years, it was Democratic. 

In 1826, a new element entered into politics— opposition to 
Free Masonry — which was well developed here. But the Anti- 
Masonic party declined after about a dozen years, or about the 
time the Anti-Slavery political party was formed. 

At the Presidential election in the fall of 1828, 1062 votes 
were cast in the eighteen districts of Susquehanna County, Jack- 
son's majority being 368. Such men as William Jessup, Charles 
Avery, and William Foster, who, in later years, eminently op- 
posed the Democratic party, then voted for Jackson. The former 
standing committee of the " Democratic Republican" party — 
Philander Stephens, William Jessup, and Simon Stevens — be- 
came prominent advocates of as many different parties, viz., 
Democratic, Whig, and Anti-Masonic. Still, voters claimed that 
the change was not in their own principles. 

In 1832, a campaign paper, the " National Republican," was 
published at Montrose, in which appeared an appeal to voters in 
behalf of Henry Clay, whose peculiar views on national finance 
found adherents and originated the Whig party. The signers of 
the appeal were I. Post, S. S. Mulford, C. Cushman, M. S. Wil- 
son, Leonard Searle, James C. Biddle, B. T. Case, A. Harts- 
horn, D. Bailey, P. Hinds, and D. Post. Some forty reasons were 
given why Jackson should not be elected. Similar reasons had 
been discussed at a National Republican meeting at Montrose a 
year earlier : John Mann, president ; J. C. Biddle, C. F. A. Volz, 
vice-presidents ; Jesse Lane and U. Burrowes, secretaries. 

Joseph Ritner was the Anti-Masonic candidate for governor of 
Pennsylvania, then unsuccessful. In Montrose the Anti-Mason 
headquarters were at the house of B. Sayre. 

The 'Register,' edited by C. L. Ward, was opposed to the 
President's removal of the deposits of the United States Bank to 
the local banks; while the 'Volunteer,' under E. H. Easter- 
brooks, favored the measure. George Fuller, approving of paci- 
fving rather than exciting the public mind on the matter, had 
left the editorial chair. Exciting meetings were held both for 
and against a re-charter. William Jessup and others newly 
opposed to Jackson repelled the charge of contending in behalf 
of the United States Bank; it was their conception of the "kingly 
power" and " corruption" of Jackson's administration which 
excited their opposition. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 521 

In the fall of 1834, George Fuller resumed the editorship of 
the 'Independent Volunteer,' and thenceforward that paper was 
the exponent of views held by the majority of Democrats as 
opposed to Whigs. Such men as William Hartley, Asa Dimock, 
Jr., Davis Dimock, Jr., and A. H. Bead, adopted the same plat- 
form. 

The year 1835 witnessed the division of the Democratic party 
in State politics. George Wolf and Henry A. Muhlenberg rep- 
resented the two factions. 

Through the disputes of the Democrats, the Whigs and Anti- 
Masons succeeded in electing Joseph Eitner for governor. 

Late in the fall, " the Democratic, Anti-Masonic, and Whig 
citizens of Susquehanna County, including all good Democrats 
(without respect to former distinctions), opposed to the election 
of Martin Van Buren," were invited to a meeting, which after- 
wards elected Major Isaac Post senatorial delegate, and George 
Walker county delegate, to represent Anti-Masons in convention. 

At a " Democratic meeting," the same fall, the minority of the 
party (whose defection caused Eitner's election), " offer to make 
every sacrifice but those of honorable principles, to effect a recon- 
ciliation, and to heal the division now existing in the Democratic 
party." The majority " accept the proposition, stipulating only 
that, hereafter, the minority shall recognize the fundamental 
principle that a majority is to decide for the entire party in all 
cases of dispute and differences of opinion." This union re- 
sulted, in 1836, in the triumph of this party, and it continued in the 
ascendant here until 1856. The Anti-Masonic party disbanded 
" for the campaign" in the spring of 1836, and never revived. 

In the meantime other principles were germinating, destined 
eventually to alter the points at issue among political parties. In 
Susquehanna County the history of anti-slavery, moral and poli- 
tical, is precisely that of the whole country — every measure hav- 
iug met a response and had its advocates here from beginning 
to end. The origin of the Anti-Slavery Society here appears to 
have been innocent enough of any intention to mix itself with 
either of the political parties. A stirring appeal had been made 
in the 'Eegister' of July 23, 1835, by Enoch Mack, of Brooklyn, 
relative to the formation of a county anti-slavery society. This 
was responded to by John Mann, of Choconut, who proposed a 
meeting to discuss the subject at Benjamin Sayre's hotel, 25th 
of September following. Nothing more than discussion appears 
to have been elicited then. 

A call to form an anti-slavery society was issued March 17th, 
1836, signed by sixty-one persons, and the number was after- 
wards increased to eighty-six. 

This caused the publication of another "call" signed by 143 



522 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

persons "opposed to the dangerous principles and projects of 
the Abolitionists." 

April 18th, 1836, the " Susquehanna County Anti-Slavery 
and Free Discussion Society" was fully organized, and made a 
declaration of its sentiments. The meeting opened with Elder 
J. B. Worden in the chair. Rev. Joseph Barlow offered a 
prayer, and Rev. Timothy Stow and John Mann drafted a con- 
stitution, which was signed by upwards of 80 gentlemen of the 
county. 

Addresses were made by Elder Worden and Wm, Jessup. 
The latter said that "the society, in clear and explicit terms, 
discard and disavow all interference in party politics," its mem- 
bers belonging to all the three existing parties. Rev. Adam 
Miller and B. R. Lyons were elected delegates to the American 
Anti-Slavery Society. 

The Susquehanna County Society afterwards published an 
address to their fellow citizens, in which it was shown that they 
expected to put down slavery through the power of moral sua- 
sion. They requested discussion with their opponents. 

The following is extracted from the county records under 
date of May, 1836 :— 

" Presentment of the Grand Jury, sitting and inquiring for the body of 
the county of Susquehanna : That the Anti-Slavery and Free-Discussion 
Society does materially disquiet, molest, and disturb the peace and common 
tranquillity of the good people in this part of the Commonwealth, being cal- 
culated to move and excite them to hatred and dislike of the Constitution of 
the United States, which has reserved to the States respectively the power 
of regulating slavery in their own confiues," etc. etc. 

Of this, it has been asserted that it was not drawn up either 
by the responsible officer of the Commonwealth, or by any of 
the grand jurors, and it was not signed in the jury-room. 

The first annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society was held 
July 4, 1836. Its numbers as given in the report of the secre- 
tary, A. L. Post, July 4, 1837 were 275. Five years earlier 
there was but one society in the United States, and that had but 
12 members; in 1836, there were 1076 societies. 

In the summer of 1836, ' The Spectator and Freeman's Journal,' 
was established by A. L. Post, Esq. This paper, though Whig 
in politics, was essentially the organ of Anti-Slavery men. That 
it developed and educated the moral sentiment of the people 
here, will hardly be disputed. But, it was gradually drifting 
towards the advocacy of the use of the ballot-box, as a means for 
purging out the leaven of slavery from the councils of the nation. 
Mr. Post, at the " Harrison and Tyler" committee meeting in 
Montrose, Feb. 1810, announced his intention to enlist politically 
as well as morally under the banner of " Equal Rights and Uni- 
versal Liberty." He could not support Harrison with his pro- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 523 

slavery record. He said: "I have become convinced that the 
abolition of slavery in this country is a subject paramount in 
importance to all others now before the American people." In 
other words, he was convinced of the truth of the statement of 
Judge Post (his father), that " Tippecanoe and Tyler too" meant 
nothing less than " Tippecanoe and Slavery too." 

On this subject, O. N. Worden, at the time junior editor of the 
' Spectator,' was not at one with Mr. Post, and" the connection was 
dissolved, and the publication of the paper ceased the following 
summer. 

At the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society on the 4th 
of July, the same year, the orator of the day, R. B. Little, Esq., 
said : — 

" Better than that slavery exist, the Union dissolve, our insti- 
tutions crumble and political death descend upon us." 

But all the members of this society were not prepared to 
indorse the sentiment, it being too far in advance of the times. 

In Oct. 1840, a State electoral ticket was formed in the in- 
terests of anti-slavery, with James G. Birney, of New York, for 
president, and Thomas Earle, of Pennsylvania, for vice-president. 

Of the thirty electors chosen, six were from Susquehanna 
County : Isaac Post, Benjamin R. Lyons, Samuel Warner, George 
Gamble, Abel Bolles, William Foster. 

A circular headed "Liberty Ticket!" was issued and circu- 
lated under the supervision of a county committee, consisting 
of David Post, Wm. Foster, and R. B. Little. 

iS The truth is," stated the committee, " our principles are directly at war 
with those of both political parties. We cannot be true to our views of 
duty, and act with them. The sooner, therefore, our connection with them 
is dissolved, the sooner we allow our principles to develop themselves in a 
political form, the sooner will they triumph." 

Of the men who now arose to meet the issue, it may be truly 
said, in the words of Jean Paul Richter : — 

" Every brave life appears to us out of the past not so brave 
as it really was, for the forms of terror with which it fought are 
overthrown. Against the many-armed future, threatening from 
its clouds, only the great soul has courage ; every one can be 
courageous towards the spent out, disclothed past." 

The votes polled that fall for the Liberty Ticket, were 343 — 
precisely the Harrison majority in the State. The number of 
votes in Susquehanna County, for the same, in the election of 
governor, in 1841, was 36, the vote of the State being 793. 

A campaign paper, ' Freedom's Annual,' was published at 
Montrose in 1841, '2, '3, and in 1852. It supported a county 
Liberty Ticket. 

A number of societies in the township were formed auxiliary 
to the county Anti-Slavery Society, and among them, were those 



524 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

of Clifford, New Milford, Liberty, and Harford. The last named 
bad 200 members in 1844. 

J. G. Birney was again the Liberty candidate for president, in 
1844 ; with Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for vice-president. In 1848, 
the platform of direct abolition was virtually exchanged for that 
of non-extension of slavery. 

A remnant of the Liberty party were dissatisfied, and, in 
1852, the " Free Democracy," as opposed to the Democratic and 
Whig National conventions, nominated John P. Hale and Geo. 
W. Julian for president and vice-president. 

In 1856, the opponents of slavery were merged into the Re- 
publican party. 

"The abolition spirit, which really had its headquarters in 
Montrose for all N. E. Pennsylvania, laid the foundation for the 
Republican party so far as this State is concerned. The Wilmot 
and Grow Congressional District made them, and not they the 
district ; it educated them and raised them to office, which both 
parties acknowledge they honored." 

The following is taken from the ' Montrose Republican' of 
November, 1868 : — 

" Politically, the northern central range of counties were once a Democratic 
stronghold. They sometimes saved the State of Pennsylvania for that party. 
They were most inflexible and rigid partisans. 

"To see how vast the change in what we call ' Wilmot's District,' we give 
the following list of Republican majorities : — 

Oct. 1868. Nov. 1868. 

Bradford 3749 4230 

Tioga 3359 3598 

Susquehanna 1305 1490 

Potter 793 1010 

9206 10,328 

" They used to be 3000 or 4000 the other way. 

" Of the recent progress of the county and of the two great parties, let the 
election returns speak : — 

Montrose. Susq. Co. Montrose. Susq. Co. 

1838. Whig, 76 1264 1868. Rep., 276 4882 

Dem., 25 1530 " Dem., 65 3392 

Totals, 101 2794 341 8274 

101 2794 

Increase in thirty years, 240 5480 

" It will be seen, that the voters have twice doubled in number, in one 
generation — an increase of 200 per cent. 

" Nearly all the old Democratic editors in Susquehanna County, we believe, 
have become Republicans— Hon. George Fuller, Hon. C. F. Read, Ariel 
Carr, S. T. Scott, O. G. Hempstead, S. B. Chase." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



525 



VOTE8 OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



1836. 


Whole vote for President 






2001 


1840. 


n w n 




. 3582 


1844. 


it (i (i 




. 4592 


1848. 


<i << << 




. 4717 


1852. 


1< (1 n 




. 5296 


1856. 


« <( H 




. 6460 


1860. 


(( <( <( 




. 7026 


1864. 


<< (( (1 




. 7162 


1868. 


(< l( << 




. 8274 


1869. 


" " Governor 




. 7046 


1872. 


U H 1( 




. 7736 




Democratic Majorities. 


1836. 


Van Buren over Harrison .... 289 


1840. 


Van Buren over Harrison . 




460 


1841. 


D. R. Porter over Banks 




810 


1844. 


Polk over Clay 




895 


1848. 


Cass and Van Buren over Taylor 




. 1008 


1852. 


Morrison over Donegan 




1031 


1851. 


Bijjler over Johnston . 




682 


1852. 


Pierce over Scott 




1011 


1853. 


Forsyth over Pownall . 




1233 




Republican Majorities. 


1854. 


Nicholson over Plumer . . . . , 585 


1855. 


Pollock over Bigler 






696 


1856. 


Fremont over Buchanan 






1313 


1857. 


Wilmot over W. F. Packer 






. 805 


1858. 


Read over W. A. Porter 






. 1167 


1859. 


Cochrane over Wright . 






. 716 


1860. 


Lincoln over all . 






1914 


1862. 


Cochran over Slenker . 






1188 


1863. 


Curtin over Woodward 






1202 


1864. 


Lincoln over McClellan 






1244 


1865. 


Hartranft over Davis . 






1293 


1866. 


Geary over Clymer 






1348 


1868. 


Hartranft over Boyle . 






1305 


1868. 


Grant over Seymour 






. 1490 


1869. 


Geary over Asa Packer 






1082 


1869. 


Williams over Pershing 






1208 


1872. 


Hartranft over Buckalew 






933 


1872. 


Grant over Greeley 






. 1632 



526 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

Though much has been said of schools in the annals of the 
different townships, some points were reserved for a more general 
chapter as bearing upon the interests of the whole county. 

Prior to the awakening of the State to the importance of com- 
mon schools, it had made appropriations to encourage the estab- 
lishment of public classical schools. The first of the kind in our 
county was styled : — 

THE SUSQUEHANNA ACADEMY. 

In and by an act of assembly passed the 19th of March, 1816, 

establishing an academy in the town 
Fig. 25. of Montrose, the following gentlemen 

„„- — ;■.-.-.,. were appointed trustees: — 

J^lP^ ~^llllk William Thomson, Davis Dimock, 

J|jjl> lilk Isaac Post, Jabez Hyde, Jr., Jonah 

//.'£! l|fk Brewster, Austin Howell, Isaac 

\\ Brownson, Daniel Ross, Wright 
I --• ij 7 ,;-| Chamberlin, IT. Tiffany, Jr., Robert 

J|ll H. Rose, David Post, Charles Fraser, 
lliSfe; ~^Mf and Putnam Catlin. 

^||i/ '•^SW These trustees comprised the prin- 

^|s • ip^ cipal officers of the county, with the 

^^^^^^^^ president and cashier of the Silver 

old academy seal. Lake Bank. A meeting was ap- 

pointed for the 3d of September fol- 
lowing. In the mean time the legislature granted $2000 towards 
the erection of an academy at Montrose. 

The care of its erection was given to Isaac Post, and it was com- 
pleted in 1818. The offices of judges and commissioners in the 
board of trustees were then filled by J. W. Raynsford, Benjamin 
Sayre, S. S. Mulford, I. P. Foster, Samuel Warner, Justin Clark, 
Bela Jones, and B. T. Case, the last named being then secretary, 
and for several years afterwards. 

There was no church edifice in the place, and the second floor 
of the building was used as a place of religious worship every 
Sabbath. The academy at that time occupied the brow of the 
hill above the new jail, the hill then being much steeper than at 
present, and containing a valuable quarry but little excavated. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 527 

The grandparents of our time relate with glee, their feats in coast- 
ing down this hill with an upturned bench for a sled, which many 
a merry boy and girl could enjoy together. About 1828, the 
building was moved down close to the sidewalk, between the 
present locations of the new academy and the old court-house, 
where it remained for twenty-two years. (A correct representa- 
tion of it appears in the picture of the Montrose Green.) 

Among the teachers engaged in this institution, the following 
are remembered : — 

1818. William Jessup (advertised by the trustees as teacher of 
mathematics and "the learned languages") and Bela Jones; J. 
W. Raynsford, part of the year. 

1819. Samuel Barnard, and daughter Catharine (since Mrs. 
Morgan). 

1820. Ralph H. Read, Walker Woodhouse. 
1821-24. Albert Bingham, David Benedict, P. Wright. 
1825-28. Eli Meeker, Sloane Hamilton, Franklin Lusk, Ben- 
jamin and D. Dirnock, Jr. 

1829-31. Seth T. Rogers, P. Richardson, S. S. Stebbins, Rufus 
B. Gregory. 

1833-36. B. S. Bentlev. 

1837-42. L. H. Woodruff, (?) H. S. Fairchild, Payne, 

Rev. S. Manning. 

1843-44. Z. L. Beebe and Lafayette G. Dimock. 

1845-47. C. C. Halsey. 

1848-49. A. J. Buel. 

Most of the above were collegiate graduates. 

Among the lady teachers after Miss Barnard, and prior to 
1830, were Misses Ann Harris (afterwards Mrs. S. Hodgdon), 
Maria Jones, Abigail Sayre (Mrs. James Catlin), Mary Ann 
Raynsford (Mrs. D. D. Warner). (Of other schools, Miss Harriet 
Conner taught early over Raynor's store. A French and English 
select school was taught in 1828, by Mrs. B. Streeter. Courses 
of lessons in English grammar, and also lessons on the German 
flute had been given by different gentlemen ; in the mean time, 
Wentworth Roberts taught in the Bowman House.) 

In 1832, the academy was thoroughly repaired, and an orrery 
and other apparatus procured. The same season an infant school 
was taught by Mrs. Amanda B. Catlin. She had the first piano 
in the place (in 1819), and taught music in 1832. Subsequently, 
and prior to 1837, Misses Jane A. Brand (Mrs. Dr. Justin A. 
Smith, of Chicago, recently deceased), Lucretia Loomis, A. L. 
Fraser, Nancy and Caroline Bowman, Caroline C. Woodhouse, 
and possibly others, were teachers in the lower rooms of the 
academy, while the classical department occupied the one long 
room on the second floor. 

Early in 1839, Miss Elizabeth Wood was the first teacher of 



528 HISTORY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

the female seminary — in the same building. It was incorporated 
through the exertions of Col. Asa Dimock. This institution, it 
was intended, should be entitled to $300 annually for ten years 
from the State. Its first trustees were A. H. Read, J. C. Biddle, 
D. Dimock, Jr., Geo. Fuller, and Daniel Searle. 

In 1840-41, the preceptress was Mrs. Elizabeth H. Stone (after- 
wards Mrs. Niven). A piano was purchased, and Miss Theodosia 
A. Catlin taught a large class in music, though there were then 
but three pianos in the place. 

In 1841-2, Miss Mariana A. Read, of Homer, New York, was 
preceptress here. 

For three or four years following, select schools by former 
teachers appear to have occupied the lower rooms. 

In 1847, Miss F. L. Willard began teaching in the academy, 
but afterwards kept a boarding-school for young ladies (assisted 
by Mrs. Theo. Smith, and E. C. Blackman), and a day school, 
which included young lads, in the building now the residence of 
George C. Hill ; later in the old Post-house, MissTotten, assistant. 
Pupils attended from remote parts of the county, and from other 
counties. 

A new academy had been projected in 1846, but it was not 
completed until the summer of 1850 ; the building, 50 by 60 feet, 
is now occupied by the graded school. Its cost was $4200. 

The first board of trustees consisted of William Jessup, presi- 
dent; R. J. Niven, secretary; M. S. Wilson, treasurer; Rev. 
H. A. Riley, F. B. Streeter, B. S. Bentley, William L. Post, 
George Fuller, Alfred Baldwin, William J. Mulford, Leonard 
Searle, D. D. Warner, and Henry Drinker. They made valuable 
contributions for the foundation of a library and cabinet of natural 
curiosities, which it is to be regretted have not been well pre- 
served. 

The first instructors were Lemuel H. Waters, A.M., principal ; 
Miss Mary J. Crawford, preceptress; William H. Jessup, and Miss 
A. A. P. Rogers, assistant teachers ; Miss Caroline Bowman, 
superintendent of primary department; Emily C. Blackman, 
teacher of music; Gustave H. Walther, teacher of German. 
Succeeding principals were Rev. Isaac Gray, Rufus C. Crampton, 

William H. Richmond, John L. Mills, and Hartshorne, col- 

legiates. After Miss Crawford, the lady teachers were Misses 
Bessie Huntting, Caroline Bush, Frances J. Woolworth, and 
Brown. 

A normal school was established in the fall of 1857, J. F. 
Stoddard, principal. He was succeeded by H. Broadhead, B.A , 
and S. S. Hartwell, B.A. 

In the fall of 1863, under the care of F. D. Hunt, it assumed 
distinctively the features of a graded school, which it still retains. 
Rev. J. R. Stone had charge of the classical department ; Misses C. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 529 

M. Dixon, M. M. Chamberlin, Jessie Bissell, and A. Perry and Mrs. 
A. M. Richards, were among the earliest teachers of other de- 
partments. Succeeding principals have been W. W. Watson, J. 
C. Hammond, E. B. Hawley, J. G. Cope, Wm. C. Tilden, and A. H. 
Berlin. 

FRANKLIN ACADEMY, OR HARFORD UNIVERSITY. 

In the absence of promised information respecting this insti- 
tution, only meager items can be given. It was the outgrowth 
of a select classical school at Harford, begun by Eev. Lyman 
Richardson, in 1817. Ten years later, his brother Preston had 
charge of it for a time. In 1830 it became "Franklin Academy," 
of which, in 1837, Willard, son of Rev. L. Richardson, was the 
principal; F. B. Streeter, Mrs. L. T. Richardson, and Misses 
Kingsley, and H. A. Tyler, assistants. 

In Nov. 1839, the corner-stone of the new building was laid. 
Nathan Leighton taught in the spring of 1840, but in the fall 
following, Rev. L. Richardson resumed the charge, assisted by 
his daughter, N. Maria, Henry Abel, Miss M. Gardner, and Mrs. 
L. T. Richardson. From 1848-55, Rev. Willard Richardson was 
principal. In 1856 his father again took the post, but not long 
after resigned in favor of Rev. Edward Allen. 

This institution, latterly styled a university, had been emphati- 
cally a normal school from the beginning, and upon the estab- 
lishment of the school at Montrose, under the care of Prof. Stod- 
dard, its labors appear to have been permanently suspended, after 
a duration of half a century. 

A very large number of its graduates became professional 
teachers ; many, ministers of the gospel, and not a few, promi- 
nent public men. Among them may be mentioned Revs. Moses 
Tyler and Washington Thatcher; Rev. Wm. S. Tyler, D.D., 
LL.D., of Amherst College ; Rev. W. H. Tyler, formerly of Pitts- 
field Institute, Mass. ; Prof. John Wadsworth Tyler, a graduate 
of Union College, and former principal of Cazenovia Seminary, 
N. Y., who died in 1833 ; Prof. E. G. Tyler, now of Canandaigua, 
N. Y. ; John Guernsey, State Senator; John D. Stiles, Congress- 
man for Carbon County; F. B. Streeter, President Judge, and 
Paul D. Morrow, Law Judge of this Judicial District ; Hon. Luther 
Kidder, deceased ; Henry W. Williams, President Judge of the 
4th Judicial District ; Stewart Pierce, State Representative, and 
Historian of Luzerne County ; Jesse Barrett, Prof, of Mathemat- 
ics in the University of Missouri; G. A. Grow, former Speaker 
of House of Representatives, U. S. ; C. R. Buckalew, U. S. Sena- 
tor, and late candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania; and Cyrus 
C. Carpenter, present Governor of Iowa. 

The annual exhibitions of Franklin Academy brought to- 
34 



530 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

gether several thousand interested spectators. The benefits of 
the institution were within the reach of those of humble means, 
owing to the accommodations for students to board themselves ; 
and the best yeomanry of the county were here constantly repre- 
sented. 

Academies established at Dundaff, Gibson, Great Bend, Friends- 
ville, and Dimock, had a more local influence than the foregoing ; 
but, in all cases, a beneficial one, and too strongly marked to be 
unnoted in the history of the county. The boarding schools at 
Mannington, at Friendsville, by Miss Eichards, and at Newton- 
ville, by S. A. Newton, should also be included in this connec- 
tion. Private classical schools have been occasionally established 
in different localities, but were without permanence. 

COMMON SCHOOLS. 

The early common schools were not free ; the children of the 
indigent were taught at the expense of the town in which they 
resided. In January, 1830, Hon. A. H. Read offered in the 
House of Representatives three memorials from Susquehanna 
County praying for a general system of education. 

An act to establish a general system of education by common 
schools was approved by Gov. Wolf, April 1st, 1834, to which 
an act supplementary was passed a fortnight later. But these 
were still far from being satisfactory to the public. In February, 
1835, Mr. Read reported a bill, changing the features and sim- 
plifying the details of the school law of the previous session, 
which was thought to remove all fair objections to a system of 
general education. In July, 1836, the act relative to common 
schools was published in the Susquehanna ' Register,' and re- 
ceived some adverse comments; some persons asserting that the 
majority of the people had no right to levy a tax upon the whole 
people for the purposes of universal education. The common 
school convention, early in 1839, recommended uniform school 
books to be adopted the ensuing fall ; and this was a new bone 
of contention. Hon. William Jessup exerted himself to show 
the propriety of the measure, and with success. Susquehanna 
County was, it is believed, the first to accept the entire provi- 
sions of the school law. 

The board of directors of the first free school of Susquehanna 
County consisted, September, 1834, of the following gentlemen : 
Wm. Jessup, J. C. Biddle, J. W. Raynsford, Asa Dimock, Hiram 
Finch, George Fuller, and Jerre Lyons, treasurer. At a later 
period a meeting of the taxables of Montrose was held to discuss 
the propriety of levying a tax of $500 for the support of a free 
school in the place. If the whole of that sum was not secured, 
enough encouragement was given to rent a room in the Academy 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 531 

and install Wm. J. Turrell as teacher, at a salary of $22 per 
month. In the fall of 1836 another room was secured, and Miss 
N. Bowman had charge of the female department at $3 per week. 
It was then proposed to add rooms to the Academy for the use 
of the free school , but upon the report of Messrs. Geo. Fuller and 
H. Drinker, committee to ascertain the expense of putting up a 
building separate from it, it was decided to act upon their sug- 
gestions. The new house, 34 x 22 feet, was erected July-Decem- 
ber, 1837, between the Academy and the old " Fire Proof," at an 
expense of $480, without desks and seats. The building was 
moved, in the summer of 1849, above the Universalist church, 
and, about fifteen years later, to the lower end of the borough, 
where it was converted into a dwelling house. It was a power 
for good in the community, which it is pleasant to recognize. 

The colored children were taught separately after November, 
1857, and Miss H. N. Austin was their first teacher. 

In the fall of 1840 the examination of persons wishing to be 
teachers was made necessary by law. 

[The following items respecting the Teachers' Association is 
taken from a more detailed account kindly furnished by A. B. 
Kent, of New Milford.] 

" The year 1854 marks a new era in the educational affairs of this county. 
Previous to this there had been a sort of mechanical compliance with the 
terms of the Pennsylvania school law ; but a clear and willing comprehension 
of a system of education suited to and sufficient for all the children of the 
county, based for its support on a fair percentage of all the property in the 
county, in addition to that received from State appropriation, had as yet found 
a place in the heart and hand of but few of the people. Some of the teach- 
ers began to have an earnest desire for improvement, and 0. W. Deans and 
a few others concluded to make an effort. A call was issued, and on the 
31st of December, 1853, a meeting was held in the court-house in Montrose, 
which organized the Susquehanna County Teachers' Association, with S. 
T. Scott, president ; J. Jameson, vice-president, and B. F. Tewksbury, sec- 
retary. Meetings' were held during the winter and following spring. 

"The directors of the county elected a county superintendent of common 
schools for the first time, June 5th, 1854 ; Willard Richardson being elected, 
and his salary fixed at $350. It was supposed the duties of the office would 
take but part of one's time ; there was considerable opposition to the idea of 
a county superintendent among the people; and from the additional appro- 
priation by the legislature to the school fund, only that sum could be taken, 
and leave for the direct support of the schools about the same amount as 
before. The county superintendent and Teachers' Association worked in 
unison. Meetings were held in the fall of 1854, and it was decided to hold 
a Teachers' Institute at Harford University, commencing on Monday the 13th 
of November following, and continuing through the week. 

" This being an entirely new movement, involved some risk to its promoters, 
as competent instructors from abroad were to be secured, and it was not 
known whether the teachers of the county would attend in sufficient num- 
bers to make it a success. But when the time arrived about one hundred 
teachers, or those who intended to be such, were present ; and probably 
no greater interest on the part of all has been manifested at any other edu- 
cational meeting ever held in this county. The instructors were Dr. S. A. 



532 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Kichardson of New Hampshire, and Prof. J. F. Stoddard, afterwards known 
here as a prominent educator as well as mathematical author. From this 
meeting we date the permanent introduction of mental arithmetic as a study 
in our schools, and many of the features which mark the improvements of the 
present day over the system of twenty years ago. The Teachers' Association 
held meetings during the winter and spring, and, in October following, an- 
other Teachers' Institute, at NewMilford, taught by Prof. Chas. W. Sanders 
of New York and others. During 1857-58 the meetings of the association (of 
which A. B. Kent was then president) were sometimes continued two days 
under instructors from abroad. 

"After this the county superintendent, B. F. Tewksbury, assumed direc- 
tion of the educational meetings of the county, sometimes calling instructors 
from abroad, and sometimes relying upon home talent. In 1861, A. N. 
Bullard being county superintendent, the Teachers' Association was revived 
and continued during his term of office ; since which the county superin- 
tendent has at his discretion called meetings from one day to one week in 
duration, with instructors from this and other counties." 

The present superintendent receives a salary of $1200. 
B. F. Tewksbury, county superintendent for 1858, then re- 
ported as follows : — 

" Our teachers are improving in their ideas of propriety and taste, with 
reference to pupils and school-houses. Many decorate their school-rooms 
with flowers in summer, and with evergreens in winter. Some have induced 
the proprietors to erect a fence inclosing a tidy little yard in which they 
have arranged flower-beds, and have also planted with vines and shade trees. 
In some cases this has been done in admirable taste, enlisting the attention 
and voluntary labors of the pupils during their spare hours, for weeks 
together." 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



533 



Tabular Statement, for the School Fear ending Jane 6, 1870. 
W. 0. Tilden, Sup' t for Susquehanna County. 





Schools. 


Teacheris. 


Scholars. 




u 


o 




» 


i. <aj 


0> © 




■> 


-i-; 


A 


DISTKICTS. 


to 

a 

a 


O J3 
~ 60 

03 

CO -*■» 




73 

a 


1-L 


~- CD 

CO 03 . 

<v a-=> 


"5 


"3 

a 

CD 

J*4 


dec 

*«, 
<c a 


2 

o 

a 




<P 


60 . 

£3 


o 


o 


»2 ■£ 

a § 


u w o 


o 


O 


- a 


p. 




A 


g a 


d 


d 


£"sa 


go a 


6 


d 


cd a) 

> — 


BQ 

O 




£ 


< 


fc 


» 


<! 


<! 


(5 


» 


<! 


O 


1. Apolacon. . . . 


5 


6. 


2 


7 $39 00 $29 00 


112 


108 


189 


.68 


2. Ararat .... 


4 


5. 


2 


5 


37 00 


25 00 


79 


69 


104 


.93 


3. Auburn .... 


14 


5.56 


2 


12 


33 00 


32 00 


241 


181 


280 


1.00 


4. Bridgewater . . . 


151 


5.50 


2 


14 


39 09 


29 22 


224 


178 


274 


.76 


5. Brooklyn .... 


10 


7. 


6 


14 


34 00 


23 50 


221 


158 


296 


.78 


6. Chapman (Ind.) . 


2 


5.75 


. . 


4 


. . . 


26 17 


28 


30 


40 


1.02 


7. Choconut . . . 


5 


4.80 


1 


6 35 00 


30 00 


130 


100 154 


.87 


8. Clifford .... 


11 


6. 


6 


15 


28 00 


25 00 


190 


151 204 


.89 


9. Dimock .... 


11 


5.72 


5 


16 


32 00 


27 00 


150 


90 193 


.85 


10. Dundaff .... 


1 

8 


7. 
5.61 








32 00 
26 92 


20 
131 


34 
104 


40 
179 


1.38 


11. Forest Lake . . . 


3 


2 


34 66 


.61 


12. Franklin .... 


9 


6. 


2 


9 


28 00 


26 00 


120 


108 


140 


.76 


13. Friendsville . . . 


1 


7. 


, . 


2 


... 


30 00 


53 


35 


50 


.45 


14. Gibson .... 


11 


5.72 


4 


18 


44 50 


28 25 


162 


130 


191 


1.24 


15. Great Bend bor' 


4 


4. 


2 


2 


70 00 


37 00 


140 


106 


190 


1.03 


16. Great Bend tow'p . 


9 


6. 


3 


11 


45 00 


24 77 


175 


146 


182 


1.03 


17. Harford .... 


12 


5.50 


2 


17 


53 37 


30 00 


237 


209 


225 


1.06 


18. Harmony . . . 


7 


6.61 


. . 


11 


. . . 


21 00 


144 


149 


268 


.60 


19. Herrick . . . . 


7 


6. 


. . 


11 


. . . 


34 00 


126 


109 


174 


1.08 


20. Jackson .... 


10 


6. 


2 


13 


34 90 


28 00 


187 


141 


218 


,70 


21. Jessup .... 


7 


6.67 


1 


13 


32 00 


25 00 


116 


95 


159 


.91 


22. Lathrop .... 


8 


7. 


3 


12 


39 00 


29 00 


150 


119 


219 


.93 


23. Lenox 


14 


5.84 


4 


18 


32 00 


31 50 


293 


217 


402 


1.04 


24. Liberty .... 


10£ 


6. 


. . 


10 


. . . 


27 00 


157 


106 


149 


1.15 


25. Little Meadows bor' 


1 


6. 


1 


1 


35 00 


20 83 


25 


19 


29 


.74 


26. Middleton . . . 


8 


5.50 


2 


13 


38 00 


29 25 


141 


109 


191 


1.10 


27. Montrose .... 


6 


6.33 


2 


4 


60 50 


39 66 


164 


175 


256 


1.11 


28. New Milford bor' . 


3 


4.60 


l 


2 


75 00 


30 00 


89 


66 


107 1.08 


29. New Milford tow'p . 


14 


5. 


3 


19 


41 00 


30 00 


257 


206 


342 .91 


30. Oakland 1 . . . . 


5 


5. 


2 


5 


35 00 


26 00 


65 


53 


105 1.90 


31. Oakland (Ind.) 1 . 


1 


6. 


, . 


1 


. . . 


34 00 


40 


37 


68 ' .65 


32. Rush 


14 


6. 


2 


11 


26 00 


24 15 


227 


180 


286 ."5 


33. Silver Lake . . . 


10 


5.80 


2 


6 


32 00 


28 50 


178 


119 


214 1.95 


34. Springville . . . 


10 


6. 


1 


16 


34 00 


28 71 


202 


178 


278 .84 


35. Susquehanna Dep't 


7 


10. 


1 


6 


133 33 


35 00 


208 


205 


320 .83 


36. Thompson . . . 


6 


5.50 


2 


7 


32 00 


24 00 


108 


97 


179 1.08 




272f 


5.89 


71 


345 $42 49 


$28 54 


5294 


4322 6898 .93 



The following is from the report of Superintendent Tilden, 
in the fall of 1872 :— 

" Several new houses have been built during' the year; nearly all of these 
are comfortable and substantial, yet very few can be found in the county 



1 Taken from last year's report. 



534 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

answering the description of the school department as first-class houses, 
— neither are grounds found of suitable size and properly improved in but 
few instances. A great negligence exists in this respect, for the majority 
have not a shade or ornament, and both sun and storm beat upon house and 
children, at their play, without hinderance." 

The Harford University was purchased by Prof. Charles W. 
Deans, a native of Bridgewater township, and opened by him as 
a State institution for the education and maintenance of soldiers' 
orphans, on the 7th day of November, 1865. 

Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, superintendent of soldiers' or- 
phans, executed the contract on behalf of the State, in pursuance 
of a law passed by the legislature at the suggestion of Gov. 
Curtin. 

The institution is conducted under the regulations laid down 
by the department of soldiers' orphans at Harrisburg. 

The number of orders of admission issued from date of organ- 
ization to June, 1872, have been 410. The number of pupils 
admitted per order and transfer 366. The number discharged 
per order, and on arrival at the age of sixteen, 180. The number 
of deaths have been 11. The number of pupils at present, June 
1, 1872, is 170. 

The children admitted represent the counties of Wayne, Pike, 
Monroe, Luzerne, Columbia, Montour, Schuylkill, Center, Tioga, 
Bradford, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Sullivan. 

In March, 1868, Mr. Deans was called to take charge of a 
similar institution in Chester County, Pa., since which time Prof. 
Henry S. Sweet, a native of Harford, has been in charge. Mrs. 
A. L. Sterling, of Wyoming County, and Mrs. Geo. W. Crandall, 
of Franklin, Susquehanna County, have been efficient matrons of 

the school; and Misses Helen M. Williams, E. M. Orvis, 

Gould, E. Gamble, and Mrs. Eedfield, teachers ; Charles S. Hal- 
stead, farmer and steward. 

Eevs. Edw. Allen and Adam Miller, in christian kindness, 
have held regular services here for the moral and religious 
training of the orphans. 

Each county has a committee of supervision appointed by the 
State, whose chairman must approve all applications for admis- 
sion sent into the department from the county. Hon. L. F. Fitch 
is chairman for Susquehanna County. 

A few notes of one who attended the examination of the sol- 
diers' orphan school at Harford, in 1870, may be of interest : — 

"There are in the school 163 children supported by the State — 110 boys 
and 53 girls — and six supported by their friends. The scholars remain till 
they are sixteen years of age, when some of them are taken charge of by 
their friends, and places are provided for others. H. S. Sweet is principal 
of the school, with four teachers. There are 21 persons employed about the 
institution — principal, steward, matron, and assistant teachers, two farmers, 
teamster, baker, shoemaker, two in laundry, sewing superintendent, hospital 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 535 

matron, etc. There are 300 acres in the farm, and 50 cows in the dairy. 
The farm is expected to produce 1000 bushels of oats, 5000 bushels of pota- 
toes, and other crops in proportion. The boys are divided into three ' re- 
liefs ;' the girls into five ; each ' relief works two hours one week on some 
special work, then changes ; thus all learn the different kinds of work 
taught. There are regular hours for work, drill, study, recreation, and sleep. 
All look cheerful and healthy. There is very little sickness — not one in the 
hospital on an average. The children are dressed in uniform — the boys in 
dark blue jackets, light blue pants, and military caps — the girls in check 
gingham. The exercises in the school were very creditable. Those in arith- 
metic, reading, declamation, etc., would do credit to schools of higher pre- 
tensions. In mental arithmetic they could hardly be excelled.) 

" Many, having reached the age of sixteen, are of course discharged, and 
few new ones are added, so that the orphans' schools will soon be a thing of 
the past. 

" The former buildings of the Franklin Academy, or Harford University, 
have been supplemented by several others, embracing a chapel in the rear of 
the main building, a girls' dormitory, a dining hall, and other suitable struc- 
tures. The grounds have been sodded, and ornamented with flowers, evinc- 
ing care and culture most commendable." 

The following is a part of an address by one of the pupils to 
his fellow-students on his fifteenth birthday : — 

" It is sometimes said that this institution is ' a great, commendable charity!' 
I hold that ' charity,' as applied to this school, is a shocking misnomer. I 
protest that we are not charity scholars. We have paid in advance, the 
highest price for our board, clothing, and tuition, that was ever paid for the 
same benefits on the continent of America. Each and every pupil of this 
school has given a father's life for the defence of our national integrity, union, 
and liberty. And we, enjoying the fostering care of the State, owe it to our- 
selves, to the memory of our fathers, to the community, to the State and 
Nation, and to posterity, to make all efforts possible here, to prepare our- 
selves tor the duties that the future may thrust upon us." 

SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 

It is said that, prior to 1815, Sabbath-schools had been designed 
for the poorer classes, and were mainly of a secular character ; 
instituted for the benefit of those who had not the privilege of a 
day-school during the week. But the school organized in the 
Newark Academy (by Rev. Burr Baldwin) in 1815, was on a 
different basis, including all classes, the rich as well as the poor, 
the colored as well as the white children, the instruction to be 
of a religious character, and the text-book to be the Bible. 

1815-16. A number of schools on the new plan were estab- 
lished in New York, New Jersey, one in Philadelphia, and one in 
Boston. 

1816. The Sunday-school Union of New York. Later, ques- 
tion books issued. 

1824. The Philadelphia school was remodelled, and the Ame- 
rican Sunday-school Union formed, and question books and libra- 
ries were improved. 

In Montrose. — So far as is known to the compiler, the first 
Sabbath-school in the county was formed about 1818, by Mrs. 



536 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Hannah Fuller and Miss Hannah Cochran, at the house of the 
former. It was in the building (now burned) long used as a 
hotel, next below S. F. Keeler's old stand. The ladies induced 
J. W. Raynsford, Esq., to join them and open the school with 
prayer. Many persons thought the school a desecration of the 
Sabbath. Elder Davis Dimock was of this number at first, and 
expostulated with one of his church members for sending her 
son to the school. He was afterwards one of the warmest advo- 
cates of Sabbath -schools. 

May 4th, 1823, at the Academy, Sabbath-school "commenced 
for the season." Jerre Lyons taught the first or most advanced 
class. There were sixteen teachers and seventy-seven scholars. 
Closed October 5. 

June 21, 1824, Monday, a Sunday school union was formed at 
the court-house. A constitution, having for its basis the establish- 
ment and permanency of Sunday-schools in Montrose and vicinity, 
was adopted. The officers of the Union were then elected : Rev. 
D. Dimock, president; Rev. B. Baldwin and Dr. W. R. Griffith, 
vice-presidents ; J. W. Raynsford, Esq., secretary ; S. Hodgdon, 
treasurer. Managers: N. Scott, J. W. Raynsford, D. Post, Wm, 
Jessup, Samuel Backus, 0. Deans, and Edmund West. It was 
resolved to open ten schools in Bridgewater. 

1825. Sunday-school concert at Rev. B. Baldwin's. 

1826. June 11th. Sunday-school held in Presbyterian church 
the first time, at 9 A. M. 

June 12, Monday evening, Sunday-school monthly concert at 
the court-house. I. P. Foster, superintendent. 

1827. Presbyterian Sunday-school numbered 124 scholars. 
October 3d, Sunday-school scholars of different denominations 
met at the house of J. W. Raynsford, and went in procession to 
the union meeting of the Susquehanna County Bible, Domestic 
Missionary, and Tract Societies, and the Sunday-school Union. 
This is remembered as a marked occasion. 

1828. Sunday-school monthly concerts in the office of J. W. 
Raynsford, Esq. 

1829. April. Sunday-school reorganized. William Jessup, 
superintendent. This office he held many years. His successors 
have been B. Sayre, B. S. Bentley, and Wm. H. Jessup. Each 
denomination in the borough (except the Universalists) has a 
flourishing Sabbath-school. The organization of other Sunday- 
schools is given in the township annals. 

June 8th, 1870. A. C. Purple, corresponding secretary of the 
Susquehanna County Suuday-school Association, furnished a 
table of statistics, from which the number of scholars in the dif- 
ferent townships is here given : — 

"Ararat, 63; Auburn, 241; Bridgewater, 104 ; Brooklyn, 167; Dimock, 
23; Franklin, 163 ; Forest Lake, 199; Great Bend borough and township, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 537 

462; Gibson, 49; Harford. 271 ; Herrick, 103; Harford, 68; Jessup, 35; 
Jackson, 306 ; Liberty, 111 ; Lathrop, 76 ; Lenox, 233 ; Little Meadows, 
73; Montrose, 400 ; New Milford, 158; New Milford township, 127; Oak- 
land, 69 ; Rush, 133 ; Susquehanna Depot, 460 ; Springville, 148 ; Thomson, 
95—4337 in 78 schools. 

" Two schools reporting later, made 80 schools reporting to the Associa- 
tion, in which are engaged over 700 teachers, and about 4400 scholars, with 
an average attendance of about 3600, and nearly 20,000 volumes in their libra- 
ries. There are probably 25 schools that did not report." 

Although sixteen districts had decreased in numbers, and four 
remained stationary, still the whole increase over the report of 
1869 was more than 500. 

CHURCHES. 
Congregational and Presbyterian. 

Though quite extended mention of churches has been already 
made, it is believed the following summary is desirable. 

The first church in the county was organized at Great Bend, 
in 1791, and reorganized in 1802. It is now Presbyterian, 
though like all the first ten of this order, it was Congregational 
when organized. The Congregational church of Harford was or- 
ganized in 1800 ; First Bridgewater (now Montrose), and Second 
do. (now Brooklyn), in 1810 ; Eush (in what is now Forest 
Lake), in 1811; Lawsville and New Milford, Ararat, Gibson and 
Mt. Pleasant (now Uniondale), in 1813 ; Silver Lake and Choco- 
nut in 1816 ; Gibson, Union Hill, in 1818. 

The Luzerne Association, to which most of these churches 
belonged, was changed to the Susquehanna Presbytery, in 1817. 
The following churches have since been formed : Springville, 
Dundaff, Clifford (Welsh), Jackson, Friendsville, Silver Lake 
(1847), Liberty, Rushville, Susquehanna Depot, New Milford 
(formerly with Lawsville), Dimock, Auburn, and Lenoxville. 
The last two are disbanded, as also two or three of the earlier 
churches, leaving eighteen, at least, still efficient; four of them 
having a total membership of about one thousand. [A statisti- 
cal table was designed to be given, but so few churches made 
full reports, it was abandoned.] 

Methodist Episcopal. 

The first class in the county was formed in Brooklyn, about 
1804. There are thirty church edifices : at Little Meadows, 
Choconut, Brackney, Liberty, Franklin, Great Bend, Susque- 
hanna, Lanesboro, East Rush, Fairdale, Montrose, New Milford, 
Jackson Corners, North Jackson, Thomson, Ararat, Brooklyn, 
Harford, Gibson, South Gibson, Herrick, West Auburn, South 
Auburn, Jersey Hill, Springville, Lymanville, Hopbottom, Lake- 
side (Lathrop), Lenoxville, and Dundaff. 

These are comprised in seventeen charges, with a church 
membership of about 2700, including "probationers;" the Mon- 



538 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



trose church alone had more than two-thirds of its membership 
of the latter, in the spring of 1872. There is an independent 
society at New Milford. 

The two African Methodist churches of Montrose have a dif- 
ferent connection. 

Summary History of Regular Baptist Churches in Susquehanna County. 

[By O. N. Worden, Esq., with the request that blanks may be filled and errors noted.] 



CHURCHES. 



Bridgewater (Montrose) . . . . . 
Middletown (first called Rush) . . . 
Harford (southeast part of twp.) . . 

Cboconut 1 

Auburn 

First Clifford (" Corners ") . . . . 

Great Bend' 

Gibson and Jackson (Jackson Corners) 
New Milford (south part of twp.) 

Lenox (West) . . . 

Rush . . 

Herrick 3 

Dimock (Corners) 

Liberty . . . 

Montrose and Bridgewater' .... 

Secoud Clifford* 

Forest Lake 

South Auburn 

Union ('The City") 

East Gibson' 

Susquehanna Depot 

Harmony (Quarry) 



When 
recognized. 



9 Apr. 
29 Feb. 
12 Sept. 
29 Jan. 



2 Aug. 
20 Oct. 
27 Oct. 

24 Dec. 

22 Feb. 
15 Dec. 
18 June, 
11 June, 

June, 

23 Dec. 

8 Dec. 
4 May, 

25 July, 
30 Apr. 
10 Sept. 
13 Nov. 



1808 
1S12 
1812 
1S14 
1817 
1817 
1825 
1825 
1827 
1830 
1S31 
1834 
1834 
1S37 
1839 
1841 
1842 
1818 
18.il 
1 856 
1S56 
1869 



Place of worship. 



M. H. dedicated Dec'r, 1829 
" " 1837 

" " 22 Dec. 1853 

" " 1828 

" " (near) 1855 

" " 1S30? 

" " August,lS32 

" ,; Dec'r, 1842 

" 15 Jan. 1851 

Febr'y, 1864 
" " 1867 

In school-houses, etc. 

M. H. bought 1851 

1S39-40. 1867-8 

School-house & Court-house. 

In school-houses, etc. 

M. H dedicated in 18 — 

". 1859 

" " 3 May, 1855 

In school-houses, etc. 

M. H dedicated 10 Nov. 1869 

School-house, etc. 



239 
88 
22 

56 
92 
25 
136 
112 
69 
73 



27 
35 

56 

41 

48 



There have been twenty-two distinct organizations, six of which have been 
absorbed by neighboring churches, or dissolved by the loss of members, 
from various causes. 

First Clifford, Lenox, and Union churches belong to the Abington Asso- 
ciation ; South Auburn, to Wyoming ; Harmony, to Deposit (N. Y.) ; and 
the others to the Bridgewater Association. 

Free Will Baptists. 

Jackson, organized 1820, m h.; Liberty, 1848, m. h. ; East Lenox, 1852; 
West Lenox, 1853, m. h. ; Thomson. 1868; Gibson Union, 1869; Herrick, 
m. h., no organization ; Franklin, m h., organization " gone down." [This, 
with further details, kindly given by A. D. Corse, Esq.] 

The Old School Baptists. 

There is a small church of this order called Gibson and Jackson, in Gib- 
son and occasional meetings are held by their preachers. 

There is a meeting house of the Seventh Day Baptists in Clifford. 



' Dropped 1856. 
3 Dissolved 1851. 
6 Dissolved 1866. 



2 Dropped 1860 ; reorganized Sept. 28, 1S72. 
* Dissolved 1841. 5 Dissolved 18E0. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 539 

Protestant Episcopal. 



Location. 


Name. 


Organized. 


Present Rector. 


a 

OS 

°3 

■2 

a 
a 

o 


Church 
consecrated. 


New Milford . . 
Montrose . . . 
Springville . . 
Dundaff . . . 
Great Bend . . 


St. Mark's. 
St. Paul's. 
St. Andrew's 1 
St. James'. 
Grace. 


1816. 
Charter, Feb. 28, 1831 
do. May, 1832 

1818. 
1856. 


J. A. Jerome. 
E. A.Warriner. 
W. Kennedy. 
H. C. Howard. 
J. A. Jerome. 


39 
103 

' 23 
46 


November, 1829 
October 27, 1833 
October 21, 1834 



Universalist. 

The Universalists have four organized churches, viz. : at 
Brooklyn, Montrose, Gibson, and Hopbottom ; and also three 
congregations having preaching part of the time : Clifford, 
Susquehanna Depot, and Elk Lake. Rev. L. F. Porter, mission- 
ary, preaches in these places, as well as at Gibson. 

The resident ministers are Rev. H. Boughton, at Brooklyn, 
and A. 0. Warren, at Montrose. 

There are six church edifices; and five Sabbath schools, with 
a scholarship of about three hundred. 

Roman Catholic. 

There are nine Roman Catholic churches, viz. : at Silver Lake, 
Friendsville, St. Joseph's, Rush, Auburn. Montrose, New Mil- 
ford, Great Bend, and Susquehanna Depot. 



CHAPTER XL. 

NEWSPAPERS AND EDITORS. 

The ' Centinel,' 2 the first newspaper in the county, was pub- 
lished at Montrose, February, 1816, by Justin Clark. Its entire 
contents would not fill a page of the present 'Independent Repub- 
lican.' Even had the sheet been as large, it would have been 
difficult to fill it with news, as the first editor was situated. In 

1 First charter granted to this church October 7, 1817. 

8 Garner Isbell, Sen., was a printer of the 'Centinel,' and took the first sheet 
from the press. He preserved a full file of that paper, and of the papers that 
followed in Montrose, for more than thirty years. To his sou, L. B. Isbell, the 
compiler is indebted for the privilege of constant reference to them during the 
progress of her work. 



540 HISTOBY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1817 he begged his readers to " excuse the barrenness of the 
' Centinel,'" for he had received no papers by the mail — the one 
weekly mail. 

In the spring of 1818 the ' Centinel' contained the following 
appeal from the editor : " Help me, or I die ! For three months 
I have not received as much money from the whole of my patrons 
as the paper itself costs for bare one week." 

In 1818 he changed the name of the ' Centinel' to the ' Mon- 
trose Gazette,' which he published four years, then sold out to 
Catlin & Fuller, who continued only a few months in partnership, 
Geo. Fuller selling out to James Catlin. 

Justin Clark removed from Montrose, and died in the spring 
of 1822. 

In 1820 a campaign paper, the 'Republican Reformer,' was 
printed in Montrose. It had no apparent editor, but he was sup- 
posed to be "the brigade inspector," Isaac Post. The 'Pennsyl- 
vanian,' another campaign paper, dated at Dundaff, was printed 
in Montrose. Neither passed beyond a few numbers. Opposed 
to these, being entirely neutral in politics, was ' The Messenger,' 
a valuable literary journal, established by Adam Waldie, June, 
1820. The second volume was named the ' Susquehanna County 
Herald.' In 1822 Mr. Waldie sold out to S. C. Wilson & Co. 

In 1823 the 'Montrose Gazette' and 'Susquehanna County 
Herald' were united, and the publication was continued three 
years by James Catlin. 1 

In 1824 he edited and printed, also, ' The Repository,' a lite- 
rary and religious semi-monthly magazine ; and in the fall of the 
same year he began to issue Elder Dimock's ' Christian Magazine.' 

Vol. I. 'The Christian Magazine, a monthly publication, devoted to the pub- 
lic for general information. Published by Davis Dimock, pastor of the 
Baptist Church at Bridgewater.' Montrose: printed by James Catlin, 
at the 'Gazette' office. Commenced November 1, 1824, comprising 32 
pages, about the size of this book, at $1 cash, or $1 25 in grain, flax, or 
wool. 

Vol. II. The same title, but issued semi-monthly, on 8 pages, at 87£ cents 
cash, in advance ; $1 in grain, etc,. 

Vol. III. ' Baptist Mirror and Christian Magazine,' etc. Printed by Dimock 
& Fuller, office of the ' Register,' enlarged to three columns to a page, 
8 col. semi-monthly ; closed September 17, 1827. 

In 1824 George Fuller established and edited the 'Susquehanna 
County Republican ;' the second year he was joined by S. C. 
Wilson. 

December, 1825, both the 'Gazette' and the 'Republican' were 
merged into the ' Register.' 

The 'Register' was established by Davis Dimock, Jr., and Geo. 
Fuller. After one year the name was changed to ' The Susque- 

1 James Catlin died November, 1847, at Milton, West Florida. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 541 

hanna Register,' and was published three years longer by the 
same parties, who favored the election of Jackson ; Geo. Fuller 
then withdrew, and D. Dimock, Jr., continued its publication 
alone until January, 1831, when C. L. Ward became his partner. 

The accession of Mr. Ward to the editorship was at a period 
of moment to popular education and the prosecution of the 
public works; and his best efforts were given to their promotion. 

From the above time until March, 1836, he conducted the 
paper, being for the first two or three months the associate of 
Davis Dimock, Jr., and for the last fifteen having James W. 
Chapman in partnership. 

In 1832-34 the paper had an additional title, the 'Northern 
Pennsylvanian.' In 1835 only the original name was used, but 
the following year the ' Northern Farmer' was attached to it. 

In reference to Mr. Ward's ability as a journalist, Greeley's 
' New Yorker,' April 9, 1836, says : — 

" 0. L. Ward, Esq., has withdrawn from the editorial chair of the ' Susque- 
hanna Register,' at Montrose, Pa. He bases his withdrawal on a disinclina- 
tion to political life in its present aspects and under the prevailing doctrines 
of the day. The ' Register,' under the auspices of Mr. Ward, has held a high 
rank among the better sort of journals, and we sincerely regret the loss 
which the profession as well as the readers of that paper have sustained." 

Mr. Ward sold out to D. Dimock, Jr., the firm-name becoming 
J. W. Chapman & Co., until September, 1836, when J. W. Chap- 
man bought out D. Dimock, Jr., and it became a Whig journal. 

'The Susquehanna Register and Northern Farmer was con- 
ducted by James W. Chapman alone through four volumes. In 
1841 he was joined by B. H. Mills, but after April, 1843, was 
again alone until 1846, when, for one year, Theodore Smith was 
his publisher and co-editor. 

June, 1851, 'The Susquehanna Register' establishment passed 
into the hands of John C. Miller, and April, 1852, it was pub- 
lished by Homer H. Frazier. 

In 1854 H. H. Frazier and Theo. Smith were editors and pub- 
lishers of the last volume of the paper. 

January, 1855, its name was changed to the 'Independent 
Republican,' C. F. Read, associate editor with H. H. Frazier, the 
publisher. 

The ' Independent Volunteer' was established at Montrose by 
Isaac Fuller, November 4, 1831, and continued ten months, when 
Asa G. Dimock bought the press and started the 'Democratic 
Volunteer,' issuing only one or two numbers, when it was re- 
purchased by George and I. Fuller and " restored to Republican 
principles," and to the old name. The 3d volume was published 
first by George Fuller alone, and then by E. H. Easterbrooks. 
The 4th and 5th volumes, by G. Fuller, and the 6th and 7th 
volumes by Fuller and Read. The 8th volume began November, 



542 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1838, under the name of the 'Montrose Volunteer,' C. F. Bead, 
sole editor. The 9th volume was edited by Read and Turrell ; 
the 10th by Abel Turrell, alone, November. 1840; the 11th, 
under the title of 'Montrose Volunteer and North Star,' was 
edited by A. Turrell and J. H. Dimock, the 12th by A. Turrell 
and S. T. Scott. The 13th volume resumed the name of 'Mon- 
trose Volunteer,' under the sole supervision of Mr. Turrell, and 
early in January, 1844, the paper known under all its changes 
as the ' Volunteer,' ceased to exist. 

The ' Northern Democrat' was established by Geo. Fuller and 
A. Turrell, January 25, 1844. The 2d volume was edited by A. 
Turrell and I. N. Bullard ; the 3d and 4th volumes by Geo. 
Fuller and O. G. Hempstead; the 5th by the latter alone. With 
the 7th volume, January, 1849, by the same editor, the name was 
changed to the ' Montrose Democrat,' which it has retained un- 
altered to the present day. 

About 1851, B. B. and S. B. Chase purchased the establish- 
ment, and it continued under the charge of one or both of these 
editors until 1856, when it was purchased by A. J. Gerritson 
and J. B. McCollum ; the latter sold out January 1, 1858, to Mr. 
Gerritson, who published and edited the paper until August 1, 
1869, when it passed into the hands of the present editor, E. B. 
Hawley. 

The 'Spectator and Freeman's Journal' was established by 
Albert L. Post, June, 1836. It was a Whig paper devoted to 
free speech, but became the organ of anti-slavery men. At that 
time there was but one other paper in the State distinctively anti- 
slavery. After eighteen months, O. N. Worden was associated 
with Mr. Post until the enterprise was given up, June, 1840. 
The press was purchased by Messrs. Ariel Carr and Amos N. 
Meylert, who published for six months, the 'North Star,' which 
was continued a few months longer by Ariel Carr and S. T. Scott, 
when it was merged with the 'Montrose Volunteer.' The 'North 
Star' had been the outgrowth of divisions among the Democrats. 
This may be said also of the ' People's Advocate,' established by 
Franklin Lusk, in 1847, which passed away with the temporary 
disquiet then existing among politicians. 

'Paul Pry,' in 1835, and 'The Moon,' a few years later, were 
papers issued anonymously in Montrose, to ' touch up' the char- 
acters, and, particularly, the foibles of its citizens. 

The 'Candid Examiner,' an organ of the Universalist denomi- 
nation, edited by Messrs. Peck and Marsh, was issued at Montrose 
in 1827 ; followed, in 1832, by the ' Herald of Gospel Truth and 
Watchman of Liberty,' Messrs. Alfred Peck and George Rogers, 
editors. This was published but a year or two. 

The 'Gospel Missionary,' a weekly religious journal of the 
Universalists, was edited, in 1847, by Rev. J. S. Palmer. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 543 

The title 'Northern Pennsylvanian,' as has been seen, formed 
a part of that of the ' Eegister' in 1832-3-4. It was proposed 
in 1824, by Amzi Wilson, as the title of a paper to be issued in 
Dundaff, but it was not used, the ' Dundaff Eepublican' being the 
first paper established there four years later. 

The 'Northern Pennsylvanian,' Independent in politics, was 
started at Susquehanna Depot, in the spring of 1856, C. S. 
Bennet and A. W. Eowley, proprietors, and a Mr. White editor 
for a few weeks. H. C. Vail then became editor and proprietor, 
and under his editorship the paper was Democratic. In 1858, 
L. P. Hinds took the paper, made it independent again, but in 
less than a year he sold it to Win. H. Hunter, who conducted it 
two or three years, and sold it to P. H. Eafter. The latter sold 
after about two years to Mr. Benedict, who sold, after a year or 
two, to S. B. Chase, who took the press to Great Bend, in 1865 
or ^66, and afterwards sold it to L. Hib. Whittlesey, who edited 
and published a spicy paper until his death, in 1870. J. E. Gailor 
succeeded him, but was obliged to relinquish it on account of 
failing health. The press was removed to New Milford, where, 
since his death, the 'Northern Pennsylvanian' is published by H. 
F. Beardsley. 

The 'Susquehanna Journal' was established May, 1869, at 
Susquehanna Depot, by several gentlemen, and edited by Wm. 
H. Gardner. The present editor is B. F. Pride. 

Various small publications, pamphlets, etc., have been issued 
from each office, and, in some instances, books. 

Summary of Neiospapers, etc., in Susquehanna County. 

1816-17. The Centinel. 

1818-21. The Montrose Gazette. 

1820. The Republican Reformer; The Pennsylvanian ; The Messenger (Lit.). 

1821-22. Susquehanna County Herald. 

1823-25. Gazette and Herald united. 

1824. The Repository (Lit.). 

1824-25. Susquehanna County Republican. 
1824-26. The Christian Magazine. 

1825. The Register. 

1826-31. The Susquehanna Register. 

1827. Baptist Mirror, etc. 

1827. The Candid Examiner. 

1828-32. The Dundaff Republican. 

1831-37. Independent Volunteer. 

1832-36. Susquehanna Register and Northern Pennsylvanian. 

1832. The Herald and Watchman. 

1835. Paul Pry. 

1836-40. The Spectator. 

1837-50. Susquehanna Register and Northern Farmer. 

1838-40. Montrose Volunteer. 

1840. North Star. 

1841-42. Volunteer and Star. 

1843. Montrose Volunteer. 



544 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1844-48. Northern Democrat. 
1847. The Gospel Missionary. 
1847-48. The People's Advocate. 
1849-72. Montrose Democrat. 
1851-54. Susquehanna Register. 

1855-72. Independent Republican. (Circulation in 1872, 5350.) 
1856-65. The Northern Pennsylvanian. (Susquehanna Depot.) 
1869-72. Susquehanna Journal. (Susquehanna Depot.) 
In 1865 the Northern Pennsylvanian was removed to Great Bend, and 
from there, in 1870, to New Milford. 



CHAPTEE XLI. 

AUTHORS AND ARTISTS. 



On the authority of the late Hon. Charles Miner, a "New 
Yankee Song," dated Auburn Village, July 23, 1803, was the 
earliest product of the Susquehanna County muse, and his "old 
and worthy friend Charles Mowry was the writer." He lived not 
far from Elk Lake, and possibly from the name he gave to his 
location, the township of Auburn received its name. The song 
had reference to the Intrusion Law, and began thus : — 

" A cruel law is made, boys, 
Which much our peace and wealth destroys — 

A cruel law is made, boys, 

To frighten and distress us ; 
But if we firm together join, 
Supported by a power Divine, 
Our Yankee cause shall not decline, 

Nor shall it long oppress us." 

In the seven remaining stanzas reference is made to Colonels 
John Franklin and John Jenkins, as those foremost in " the 
cause." It will be remembered that, though these sturdy cham- 
pions of Yankee rights resided in the vicinity of Athens, this 
section as well as that were alike in the disputed territory claimed 
at the same time by Connecticut and Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Israel Skinner, of Oakland (then Harmony), published at 
an early day a history of the American revolution in verse, a part 
of which is quoted by Mr. Miner in his ' History of Wyoming.' 

Dr. R. H. Rose published a volume of fifty-six poems, or, as he 
termed them, ' Sketches in Verse,' about 1820. It was a hand- 
somely bound octavo, designed for private circulation only, and 
but one or two copies can now be fouDd in the county. In this 
volume his many quotations from the Latin, French, and Italian 
show his familiarity with various languages and authors. Many 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 515 

of the sketches were love-ditties, and professed imitations of a 
race of bards no longer greatly admired. There were also prose 
versions from the Arabic poets, turned into rhyme. An excep- 
tion to the foregoing is found in his ' Instructions to Manufac- 
turers,' in which is seen a gleam of the wit and raillery of which 
he is said to have been foud. He could, at least, follow his own 
" Instructions ':" — 

" What ! you would write a sonnet ! — sit you down, 

And take your pen, no matter for the theme, 

So it be dull and sad — a waking dream ; 
And, careless of the peevish Muse's frown, 
Run stanza into stanza. Break your lines 

And form them that the first and fourth may chime, 

And to the third the second be the rhvme. 

" Oft introduce a colon : but when shines 
A gleam of passion, never then neglect 

A note of admiration, and an Oh ! 

For thus you will display a deal of wo, 
And to your sonnet give a fine effect. 
Then lug two limping lines in at the close, 
And swear 'tis thus the great Petrarcha's metre flows." 

A work designed apparently for circulation in England, and 
which did circulate there and influence immigration to this county, 
was written here, and bore the following on its title-page : — 

" Letters from the British Settlement in Pennsylvania : to which are added, 
the Constitution of the United States and of Pennsylvania, and extracts from 
the laws respecting aliens and naturalized citizens. By 0. B. Johnson, M.D." 

This was entered according to Act of Congress, by H. Hall, 
Philadelphia, 1819. Another edition was published the same 
year, by John Miller, Piccadilly, London (England). 

More than one English immigrant bemoaned the day he read 
'Johnson's Letters,' and heaped upon the author accusations born 
of disappointment. "Too rose-colored," his descriptions may 
have been ; but so, also, were the notions of town-bred people re- 
specting their own capacity to endure the inevitable ills attend- 
ant upon pioneer life. 

Samuel Barnard was among those who left the old world in 
1819, with hopes founded upon statements contained in the 'Let- 
ters.' While in this county he devoted himself to the prepara- 
tion of a — 

" Polyglott Grammar of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Eng- 
lish, French, Italian, Spanish, and German languages, reduced to one common 
rule of syntax, and an uniform mode of declension and conjugation as far as 
practicable." 

This was published in 1825, in Philadelphia, New York, Bal- 
timore, and Boston. President John Q. Adams was a subscriber 
for the work. Mr. Barnard presented an elegant copy, prepared 
expressly for the occasion, to General Lafayette. Several col- 
35 



546 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

leges subscribed for copies, as also the Department of State at 
"Washington. 

He removed to New York, and afterwards to Kentucky, where 
he died in 1850. One of his daughters, Mrs. George Fuller, is 
still a resident of Montrose. 

We are indebted to the same alluring ' Letters' for the arrival 
from England, in 1819, of Mrs. Juliana Frances Turner. During 
the next three years she wrote the ' Harp of the Beechwoods,' a 
volume of sixty-five poems. This was published at Montrose, by 
Adam Waldie, in 1822. 

Some of her ballads, in old English style, are quite pleasing. 
Other pieces possess real merit ; but fairies and goblins seem most 
frequently to have entertained her fancy and engaged her pen. 
A sample of the smoothness of her style may be seen in the fol- 
lowing extract: — 

"The Cot of Content." 

"On the banks of the Schuylkill still evening was glinting, 

And the tide's silvery surge a soft murmuring kept, 
While the bright hues of autumn the slope woods were tinting, 

And the brown sunny mountains in mellowness slept. 
There I marked a sweet villa, the day star declining, 

Where the jessamine lingered, with late roses blent ; 
Where the scarlet-leaved creepers neat trellised were twining, 

And they called the sweet bower — the Cot of Content." 

Mrs. Turner was born in London, married in 1802, and died 
in England early in 1837. 

Keference has been made to Adam Waldie as her publisher ; 
on another page his connection with the newspaper press is 
given. His position as editor of a literary rather than a politi- 
cal journal, and his influence in calling out the talent that lay 
dormant here, entitle him to grateful mention. 

In 1823, a painting was made by Thompson, of Susque- 
hanna County, from a scene in 'The Pioneers.' 

In 1829, a new hymn book, by Sebastian and Barzillai 
Streeter. 

In 1832, materials for a history of this section, by C. L. Ward, 
destroyed by fire. 

A number of pamphlets have been issued from the county 
press, some of which are remembered : The Atonement, in 
Seven Links, by Jireh Bryan ; a Historical Discourse, by Eev. 
Adam Miller, 1844, published by A. Turrell ; a discourse on 
Baptism, by Rev. A. L. Post. 

In 1837, 'The Spectator' office printed a book of seventy-six 
pages, entitled ' Intellectual Chronology,' for schools and learn- 
ers, by "Technica Memoria" [R. Pike]. It endeavored to simplify 
the acquisition of dates, by the use of letters for figures, weaving 
them with words, and often into poetry. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 547 

From 1820 to 1840, the newspapers contained frequent contri- 
butions of much literary value, from various parts of the county. 
The schools at Mannington and Harford sent out many ; and 
some fugitive pieces of poetry of real merit gave evidence of 
native talent if not of genius. 

The following, by Miss A. L. Fraser, is only one poem of many 
of hers worthy of mention : — 

" Lines. 

" How beautiful she lay 

Upon her couch of death, 
Ere from the lovely clay, 

Parted the living breath. 
Could one so loved be dying, 

Whose gentle voice we heard, 
Sweetly to ours replying 

In many a tender word ? 

" Like sculpture fair her brow 

Gleamed through her sunny hair; 
How rich her cheeks' warm glow — 

The hectic rose was there. 
bright deceitful blossom ! 

Flower of the fatal breath ! 
To the eye thou'rt life and beauty, 

, But to the wearer — death ! 

• 

" Bright shone her eye, and clear 
As the cloudless blue of heaven ; 
Its spirit-light how dear, 

How soon to darkness given ! 
Now she has passed the shadow, 

Ours is the void, the gloom ; 
She bathes in love's pure ocean, 
Far, far beyond the tomb ! 

" Sweetly the morning star, 

Fading is lost in light — 
So fled the maid afar, 

Forever, from our sight. 
Weep not ! she dwelt among us 

A bird of brighter skies, 
Whose song was sweet while fettered, 

Far sweeter when it flies !" 

It would be erroneous to suppose that the last thirty years 
have been less prolific in poetical or prose contributions to the 
local press; but attention can only be called to compositions of 
a more enduring character. 

"Edith May" is the now. de plume of Miss Drinker, the gifted 
poetess whose summer home has been in Montrose for the last 
twenty-five years ; and whose poems, evincing true genius, have 
delighted readers both at home and in the literary circles of our 
country. A Philadelphia firm solicited her poems for publi- 
cation, and they appeared in 1851, prefaced by a tribute from 



548 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

N. P. Willis. She also published, in 1855, ' Tales and Poems for 
children.' 

It has been frequently remarked, " she might have sat for her 
own 

"Theodora." 

" In her eyes are tranquil shadows 
Lofty thoughts aloue can make, 
Like the darkness thrown by mountains 
O'er a lake. 

" If you speak, the slow returning 

Of her spirit from afar 

To their depths, is like the advent 

Of a star. 
******* 

" Be a theme however homely, 
It is glorious at her will, 
Like a common air transfigured 
By a master's skill. 

" And her words, severely simple 
As a drapery Grecian-wrought, 
Show the clear symmetric outline 
Of her thought." 

During the late war, Mrs. L. C. Searle issued a pamphlet volume 
entitled, 'McClellan the Second Washington.' 

She has nearly ready for publication the biography of her 
father, Elder Davis Dimock. 

In 1865, the 'Life and Times of Sheardown' was edited by 
O. N. Worden, of New Milford. Its title in full gives a general 
idea of the work. 

' Half a Century's Labors in the Gospel, and Thirty-five Years of Back- 
woods Mission Work and Evangelizing in N. Y. and Penn'a. An Auto- 
biography, by Thomas S. Sheardown, as related in his seventy-fourth year to 
a Stenographer.' 

Also, 'A Jubilee volume,' entitled — 

'The First Half Century of the Northumberland Baptist Association, 
situated in Northumberland, Montour, Sullivan, Lycoming, Clinton, Union, 
and Snyder Counties, Penn'a. From 1820 to 1870. Compiled at the request 
of the Association by O. N. Worden.' 

He has also issued various historical sketches. 

In 1866, Kev. H. A. Riley, late pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Montrose, Pa., wrote and published ' The Restoration : 
or, The Hope of the Early Church Realized;' a 12mo. volume 
of* nearly three hundred pages. 

In 1868, a second edition was issued by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 
Philadelphia, the title of which gives a clearer idea of the work. 
'The Restoration at the Second Coming of Christ. A Summary 
of Millenarian Doctrines.' 

The New York 'Evangelist' said: — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY 549 

" This volume is an addition to the popular literature on the subject of 
the Premillennial Advent of Christ. The book is the presentation in a modi- 
fied form of a series of sermons preached to the congregation over which the 
author was settled. His endeavor seems to have been to present the whole 
subject in a simple scriptural light, relying on no arguments but those which 
come from a fair interpretation of the inspired words, and turning aside to 
scarce any objection which is not drawn from the same source." 

The ' Western Episcopalian,' in a review of its merits, stated 
that — 

" In the language of Dr. Seiss' introduction, 'it is a work of a sober, 
mature, and candid mind, conscious of having something important to com- 
municate It ably deals with the great questions of the course 

of future Providence, and the consummation for which our religion teaches 
us to hope. It makes no pretensions, but is full of important truth, fairly 
deduced, popularly presented, and suitably enforced. It is ' meat in due 
season,' from a faithful steward, and a workman who need not be ashamed.' — 
This eulogy, we think, is no more than just, and we cordially recommend the 
volume to all who are seeking an insight into the solemn subject of which it 
treats." 

'The Nation: The Foundations of Civil Order and Political 
Life in the United States,' by Elisha Mulford, 1870. 

In compassing his object, Mr. Mulford discussed, amongst 
other subjects, The Relation of the People and the Land : Rep- 
resentative Government : The right of Suffrage : The Nation 
and the Commonwealth : ■ The Nation the Antagonist of the 
Empire : The Nation the Antagonist of the Confederacy : The 
Nation the Integral Element in History : The Nation the Goal 
of History. 

The work is one upon which the compiler is quite willing to 
confess her inability to pass judgment, and may be allowed, in- 
stead, to give the opinions of others. 

James B. Angell, President of the University of Michigan, 
says: — 

" It is the most valuable contribution to political philosophy which has 
been written in the English language in this generation. Its hearty recog- 
nition of the moral element in the national life carries it back to the good 
old times of Hooker and Milton. It ought to impress our people with the 
conviction that not alone tariff and exchanges, but above all the moral and 
religious spirit of a nation determines its career and destiny." 

Charles Sumner wrote : — 

" I have read it from the first to the last with constant interest and sympathy. 
It is a most important contribution to our political literature, and cannot 
fail to strengthen and elevate our national life." In a private letter to an 
eminent scholar, Mr. Sumner says : " It is thoughtful, matterful, learned, and 
right." 

J. L. Diman, Professor of History in Brown University, says: — 

" It is not only by far the most profound and exhaustive study in the field 
of speculative politics that American scholarship has yet produced, but we 
shall be obliged to go very far back in the literary annals of our mother 
country to find anything worthy of comparison with it. Certainly since the 



550 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

fruitful discussions of the seventeenth century, England has produced no 
single political treatise which, for seriousness of conviction, and sustained 
elevation of thought, deserves to be ranked beside it." 

The following is from the literary items of the 'Boston Ke- 
corder:' — 

" Very little has yet been known, personally, of Mr. E. Mulford, the author 
of that profound and sterling work, ' The Nation.' Born in Montrose, Penn., 
and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1855, he studied theology for 
a time at Andover, and afterwards in Germany, where also he entered upon 
the thorough study of German philosophy and political science, of which we 
see the first-fruits in his great treatise. He was for a time the rector of an 
Episcopalian church at Orange, N. J., from which position he retired a few 
years since, and took up his residence at Friendsville, Susquehanna Co., Pa., 
near Montrose, where he has since lived in strict seclusion and close devotion 
to study." 

He obtained in college special distinction in literature, and 
was the chief of the editors of the ' Yale Literary Magazine." 

A correspondent of the 'Golden Age' writes of his (Mr. Mul- 
ford's) retirement, closing thus: — 

"There, in a delightful domestic circle, with the brightness and gayety of 
children giving grace to every day, he realizes such a life as Southey and 
Wordsworth lived. It is in the midst of such an atmosphere of refined and 
thoughtful leisure that he has for years been building up the great argument 
on which he has ' sought to give expression to the thought of the people in 
the late war, and that conception of the nation which they who were so wor- 
thy, held worth living and dying for.' " 

Wm. A. Crossman, in 1867, prepared a work to facilitate 
county business, entitled ' Assessors' Form Guide,' and its worth 
is securing its use in several counties besides our own. 

Hon. S. B. Chase, of Great Bend, has issued several works, 
among which are the following: 'Digest and Treatise on Par- 
liamentary Law' (now in its ninth edition); 'Good of the 
Order;' 'Manual of Good Templars;' 'History of Good Tem- 
plars,' for Mill's Temperance Manual. 

Mrs. S. B. Chase, in 1870, issued 'Berry's Lake,' a good tem- 
perance story. 

Mrs. Laura Trowbridge, of Great Bend, is the author of a 
cook-book of " more than thirteen hundred sensible receipts," 
from a practical cook. 

Mrs. Mayo, of Susquehanna Depot, has executed oil-paintings 
of scenery in that vicinity, which are said to possess much merit. 

Mrs. Theodore Smith, and her sister, Miss L. Avery, excel 
in water-colors, particularly in painting " Autumn Leaves." 

Stephen Wilson, a former resident of Montrose, but now living 
in Philadelphia, became quite a successful portrait painter. 

1 The degree of LL D. was recently conferred on Mr. Mulford by Yale Col- 
lege. 




REV E "SHA MULKOED, LL.D. 



552 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

He commenced painting in Philadelphia. Id the midst of success, after a 
few years, he decided " to rescue from oblivion the looks and customs of the 
vanishing races of native man in America." 

In 1832, he started for the Great West, without government or individual 
aid ; and, during the summer and fall, his letters from the Mandan Village, 
Upper Missouri, were published in the ' N. Y. Commercial Advertiser' and 
the 'N. Y. Spectator.' During the winter following he visited his father 
at Great Bend. 

In 1834 he was among the Comanches and Pawnees, and, later, on the Red 
River, 200 miles from Fort Gibson, at the mouth of the False Washita. 
January, 1836, a letter of his was published in the ' Montrose Volunteer,' 
from which we learn that his wife was then with him. 

His letters to the N. Y. papers, published November, 1836, were reprinted 
here, and it was said of him, " The productions of his pen are hardly less 
graphic than those of his pencil." 

In the fall of 1837, Mr. Catlin lectured in New York, in connection with 
the exhibition of paintings, while Black Hawk, Keokuk, and about fifty 
Indians from four tribes were present. 

In 1838, the value of his paintings was estimated at from $100,000 to 
$150,000. 

In eight years he visited about fifty tribes, and brought home more than 
600 oil-paintings (in every instance from nature) of portraits, landscapes, and 
Indian customs, and every article of their manufacture, such as weapons, 
costumes, wigwams, etc. He exhibited this collection in New York and 
Washington, and also in London and Paris. He had offers from noblemen 
in England for his collection, but he declined them, preferring to dispose of 
it in his own country. He offered it to the government of the United States 
for $65,000. The bill for its purchase was discussed in the Senate, and lost 
by one vote. This was probably owing to the influence of H. R. Schoolcraft, 
who had endeavored to secure the use of Mr. Catlin's paintings to illustrate 
a work he contemplated editing for the United States; but Mr. C. had 
already incurred great labor and expense towards a publication of his own, 
and declined his proposition. 

Further than this, Mr. Schoolcraft stated, in his large work afterwards 
published and presented under authority of the government to scientific in- 
stitutions throughout the civilized world, that Mr. Catlin's descriptions of the 
Mandan religious ceremonies were contrary to facts, that they were the works 
of his imagination, that the tribe was not extinct but rapidly increasing, etc. 
Mr. S.'s statements were not made from his own observation, and Mr. Catlin, 
in a memorial presented to Congress in 1869, has abundantly disproved them. 
In this memorial, dated Brussels, Belgium, December, 1868, he petitioned 
for an act of Congress authorizing Mr. Trubuer, of London, the present pro- 
prietor of his '" O-kee-pa," to supply him with a number of copies of that work 
(descriptive of the ceremonies referred to above, and attested to by the late 
Prince Maximilian of Prussia, who visited the Mandan tribe about the time 
Mr. Catlin did), equal to the number of copies of Schoolcraft's book circu- 
lated, for presentation to the same institutions and libraries, as far as possible. 
This was all the amende he asked. This has not been granted, unless very 
recently. 

While in London, unfortunate speculations subjected Mr. Catlin's collection 
to liens, under which it was seized and advertised to be sold at public auction. 
Mr. Joseph Harrison, of Philadelphia, then passing through London, paid off 
the liens and took the collection with him to Philadelphia. 

It was under these discouraging circumstances that Mr. Catlin left London 
in 1853, for Venezuela, South America. He traversed British and Dutch Gui- 
ana, the valley of the Amazon, and other parts of Brazil, the Andes, Peru, 
Ecuador, Bolivia, California; reached Vancouver and Queen Charlotte's, and 
having visited most of the tribes of Indians of the Pacific coast as far as Kamt- 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 553 

schatka and the Aleutian Islands, he returned to cross the Rocky Mountains 
from San Diego to Santa Fe and Matamoras, thence to Guatemala, to Yuca- 
tan, to Cuba, and back to London. His last roamings were in some places 
extremely hazardous. 

At this time he added one hundred and twenty-five full length portraits, 
and many other paintings, to his previous collection. He says : — 

"With the labor of thirteen years, I have visited and recorded the looks 
and customs of nearly every tribe (and remnant of tribes) now existing in 
North America." 

The following high compliment was paid to Mr. Catlin during the recent 
exhibition of his American Indian collection in Brussels, by Mr. P. Van 
Schendel, the celebrated artificial light painter : — 

"I paid four visits to Mr. Catlin's Indian collection, being particularly de- 
lighted with his landscape views, in which I find a remarkable effect of per- 
spective, and that produced visibly, without the application of the rules of per- 
spective science ; and his night scenes of salmon spearing, deer hunting, etc., 
by torch light, and his numerous sun-setting scenes I found of such striking 
effect, neatness of tone, and brilliancy of colors, that they are not to be 
equalled by any of the existing artists of Brussels." 

In 1871, Mr. Catlin returned to this country and exhibited his collection in 
New York, and more recently in Washington, D. C. 

Influential city papers urge that it be bought by the government. He is 
now verging on eighty years of age, and still retains, if his deafness be ex- 
cepted, a vigor of mind and body that many men of half his years might 
crave. 1 

From an English paper we learn that he is preparing to publish a work enti- 
tled 'The Lifted and Subsided Rocks of America, with their Influences on 
Oceanic, Atmospheric, and Land Currents.' 



CHAPTER XLII. 

PHYSICIANS AND THE MEDICAL SOCIETY. 

Those who Practiced in thb County before 1820. 

1787. A Dr. Caperton, it is said, accompanied the Nicholson settlers to Hop- 

bottom, now Brooklyn, but may not have remained more than a year. 

1788. Rev. Daniel Buck, of Great Bend, practiced as a physician. 
1791. Dr. Forbes, at Great Bend. He left before 1807. 

1794. Comfort Capron, in Nine Partners Settlement, Harford, until his death 
in 1800. 

1801. Noah Kincaid, 1 who died in 1804. 

1801. Asa Cornwell, j "Phesitions" on tax-list for " Willingborough." 

1804. Robert Chandler, at Gibson, a " Root and Cancer Doctor" of consider- 
able practice. 

1804. Charles Fraser, at Great Bend. He left soon after, for a time, but re- 
turned, and remained until 1813, when he removed to Montrose, where 
he practiced to the close of his life. 

1807, or earlier, Reuben Baker, near the Forks of the Wyalusing, but just 
below the present line of Susquehanna County, practiced extensively 
in its western townships. 

1 George Catlin died at Jersey City, December, 1S72. 



551 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1807, or earlier, Jonathan Gray, at Great Bend. 

1807. Eleazar Parker came to Great Bend and remained two and a half years. 

1808. Dr. Luce, at Harford for a few years, then removed to Great Bend. 

1809. Eld. D. Dimock, Bridgewater. 

1810. Horace Griswold, at Harford a year or two. 

1811. Mason Denison, at Brooklyn a few years, then at Montrose, where he 

practiced to the close of his life, 1838. 

1811. James Cook, in Bridgewater. 

1812. Asa Park, in Bridgewater. 

1812. Joseph B. Streeter, in Harford, practiced over forty years, is still living, 
the oldest physician in the county. 

1812. Dr. Stanford, in Liberty. 

1813. Daniel McFall, at Great Bend, where he died in 1835. 

1813. or a little later, Benj. A. Denison, at Montrose, afterwards in Dimock. 

1814. Israel Skinner, on the line of Great Bend and Old Harmony (now Oak- 

land). 

1815. Samuel Bissel, Brooklyn, where he died in 1829. 

1816. Calvin Leet, a short time in Choconut, then removed to Friendsville, 

where he still resides. 

1816. William Bacon, at Hopbottom. 

1817. Lemuel W. Bingham, New Milford, fifty years. 

1818. Charles B. Johnson, Silver Lake. 
1820. Dr. Emerson, Silver Lake. 

Dr. Jackson, of Tunkhannock (father of Thos. Jackson, M.D.), practiced in 
Springville at an early day. Mrs. Mercy Tyler, of Harford, and 
afterwards of Ararat, rode extensively in answer to the calls of the 
sick. 

THE FIRST MEDICAL SOCIETY. 

In May, 1820, Dr. L. W. Bingham proposed the formation of 
a county medical society, but no organization was attempted 
until September 23, following. At present no papers can be 
found to give the result of a meeting for this purpose, advertised 
to be held on that day. But whether Dr. Bingham's effort was 
successful or not, the credit of making it should be awarded him. 

Lemuel Webb Bingham was born at Windham, Connecticut, 
January 7, 1794; studied medicine with Dr. Avery of the same 
place, and attended medical lectures at Yale College. He com- 
menced practice in New Milford, and adjoining townships in Sus- 
quehanna County, in 1817, where he remained until his death, 
fifty years later, at the age of seventy-three. 

The Second Medical Society of Susquehanna County was 
formed upon the suggestion of Dr. John L. Kite, at the office of 
Dr. Asa Park, November 19, 1888, long prior to the organization 
of the State and National Medical Associations. The original 
members were : Drs. Asa Park, Ezra S. Park, and Josiah Black- 
man, of Montrose; L. W. Bingham, New Milford; B. Kichard- 
son, Brooklyn ; Calvin Leet, Friendsville ; W. W. Pride, Spring- 
ville ; and John L. Kite, Silver Lake (but now of Philadelphia). 
B. Richardson was chosen president ; J. Blackman, secretary ; 
and L. W. Bingham, chairman of committee to draft a constitu- 
tion. On the 4th of February, 1839, a constitution was adopted. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 555 

Thomas Jackson, of Montrose, afterwards of Binghamton, and 
now deceased, may have been among those who joined the society 
at the semi-annual meetings, held regularly previous to November 
10, 1854 ; but, at this date, the records of the society, then in the 
office of the secretary, Dr. Park, were burned with it in the fire 
that destroyed nearly all the west side of the public avenue, and 
the names of all the former members are not recollected. 

The society met January 3, 1855, and from the list of those 
present, and the officers then elected, we have these additional 
names : Drs. Ezra Patrick, Jr., and Gordon Z. Dimock, Montrose ; 
Jjatham A. Smith, New Milford ; C. E. Edwards, and A. M. Tif- 
fanv, of Harford — then associate members onlv, but received in 
fulfin 1863-4. 

Braton Eichardson was chosen president for that year ; L. W. 
Bingham, vice-president; G. Z. Dimock, secretary, and L. A. 
Smith, treasurer. Delegates were appointed to the State Med- 
ical Society, and to the American Medical Association ; the secre- 
tary was requested to rewrite the constitution of the society, and 
a special meeting was appointed to be held at New Milford, the 
following May to consider its adoption. At the regular meeting, 
June 6, 1855, at Lodersville (now Great Bend borough), it re- 
ceived the signatures of most of the then members of the society, 
to which have since been added the following:: — 

Prior to 1865, Drs. Wm. Bissel, of Jessup ; Israel B. Lathrop, 
and P. Edwards Brush, Springville ; James Griffin (died Januarv, 

1858), Lyman (dead), E. F. Wilmot, Great Bend; D. 6. 

Warner, W. L. Eichardson, Calvin C. Halsey, J. W. Cobb, D. A. 
Lathrop, and E. L. Gardner, Montrose ; A. C. Blakeslee, Dimock; 
P. H. Gardner, Clifford ; H. A. Tingley, and E. N. Smith, Sus- 
quehanna Depot ; C. L. Stiles, Gibson ; David C. Ainey, New 
Milford; J. B. Streeter, and G. M. Gamble, Harford; A.B.Sher- 
man, Fairdale ; E. L. Handrick, Friendsville. 

Later members — Drs. A. D. Tewksbury, Auburn; Samuel Bird- 
sail, H. P. Moody (died in 1869), James D. Leslie, Susquehanna 
Depot; A. T. Brundage, Factoryville(?); A. J. Ainey, A. Cham- 
berlain, Brooklyn; W. J. Alexander, Dundaff; F. D. Gulick, 
Dimock (?) ; S. W. Dayton, and C. P. Bigelow, Great Bend; W. 
N. Green, Hopbottom ; E. G. Marsh, South Gibson. Upon the 
present records appear notices of election to membership of the 
following, whose names are not on the list: 

Drs. Addison Newton, Liberty; N. Y. Leet, Friendsville; 

Orchard, Jackson ; G. W. Beach, Brooklyn ; E. L. Blakeslee, 
Dimock. 

The society is generally represented in the State society and 
in the American Medical Association. Eeports of the proceed- 
ings of these bodies are given at the meetings of the society ; the 
sanitary condition of the respective localities of members is stated ; 



556 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

clinics are held, at which patients with chronic diseases are pre- 
scribed for free of charge; essays upon medical topics are read, 
and free discussion is maintained. A fee bill has been adopted, 
all the members now making uniform charges. 

The present members number 25, with three additional honor- 
ary members. Dr. C. C. Halsey, the president of the society, 
is one of the censors for the 2d district State society ; and Dr. W. 
L. Richardson, the treasurer, is one of the vice-presidents of the 
State society. Five members of the county society are perma- 
nent members of the State society, and the names of most of the 
members are also on the roll of the latter. Only 35 out of the 
6Q counties of the State are now represented in it. 

Among other physicians who have practiced, or are now prac- 
ticing in the county, though not known to have been connected 
with the Medical Society, the following are remembered : 

Drs. Chas. W. Bankson, Plant, Isaac, James A., and Alex- 
ander Lewis, and Charles Bliss (dead), of Silver Lake; R. S. Bast- 
man, A. H. Bolles, and D. C. Porter, Montrose; Munger 

(1822), B. Mack, Samuel Bissell (died 1829), P. M.^Way, and 

■ Meacham, Brooklyn; Albright Dunham, Elijah Snell, 

Ruttan, Rush; Clark Dickerman, Harford ; Wm. Terbell, Joseph 

Falkner and ■ Gritman, Dundaff ; Rufus Fish, Liberty ; N. P. 

Cornwell, Jessup ; B. L. Brundage, Charles Drinker, Gibson; E. 
S. Hines, and Vailes, Friendsville; Field, an English- 
man, in Bridgewater; Daniels, Great Bend ; Shutts, 

Susquehanna Depot; Lambert, Springville; H. A. Riley 

and J. D. Yail, homoeopathic physicians, of Montrose; Samuel 
Wright, botanic, at Hopbottom ; J. W. and D. F. Brundage, 
water-cure establishment in Gibson. 

Miss Ellen E. Mitchell, of Montrose, was one of five ladies who 
were admitted to the practice of medicine by receiving a degree 
from the Women's Medical College of New York in 1871. 

The Susquehanna and Bradford Dental Society held its third 
semi-annual session at the office of W. W. Smith, in Montrose, 
Sept. 14tb, 1871. 

At a meeting of physicians, held at West Harford, Susque- 
hanna County, Aug. 15th, 1872, an organization called the Sus- 
quehanna Eclectic Medical Society was formed, as an auxiliary 
to the State and National societies. President, E. N. Loomis, of 
Oakley. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 557 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 

In the second issue of the 'Centinel,' February, 1816, Daniel 
Curtis offers " 350 gallons of good, rectified whiskey at $1.00 per 
gallon;" and the whole air of the advertisement presupposes the 
community ready to hail it as a benefaction. 

F. Fordham announces "a hogshead of rum, to be sold cheaper 
than ever it was sold in the village." But he was a respecter of 
money, if not of persons, since he asked " 9 shillings only if N. 
Y. bills are offered, but 10 shillings if those of Philadelphia, and 
11 shillings if bills from the interior." 

Nathan Raynor " will sell rum if requested." 

In 1817, Isaac Post "sells brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey;" 
but this was not probably a new business with him, since he be- 
came a " taverner" ten years previous to this. 

Sayre & Mulford advertised, about the same time with Mr. 
Post, rum and brandy " of the first quality ;" and doubtless the 
endorsement would be considered good, could their liquors be 
tasted after the adulterated ones of the present day. 

In 1819, "Nathan H. Lyons sells whiskey by the hogshead, 
tierce, barrel, gallon, or quart," in a small red house on the corner 
now occupied by J. R. Dewitt & Co. 

In 1820, probably from the increased number of distilleries, 
whiskey is sold, for cash, at 44 cents per gallon, by I. & D. Post. 

The Britannia Distillery is announced in 1821. 

In 1822, " Butterfield's best rectified whiskey" was by no means 
the result of his enterprise alone ; I. P. Foster, Daniel Lathrop, 
and S. S. Mulford were silent partners. 

In 1823, the ' Montrose Gazette' complains of the scarcity of 
wheat, which is felt the more since " too much rye goes to the 
distilleries." One bushel of rye purchased five quarts of whiskey. 

At Montrose, 1824, " Herrick, Fordham & Clark continue the 
stilling business on a pretty extensive scale." This establishment 
was closed in June, 1825, and soon after " Clark and Tyler (Har- 
vey) take pleasure in informing the public, that the distillery 
tbey have been erecting near Jones's mill is now completed and 
in perfect readiness for business." 

But time would fail to write of all the places where the worm 
of the still lay coiled quiescent — its treacherous power not yet 
recognized. 



558 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

The venerable Rev. Burr Baldwin, on being asked, " Where 
were the ministers all this lime of darkness ?" replied, " Treating 
their parishioners, as they felt in duty bound, whenever favored 
with a visit, and accepting from them reciprocal attentions." 
(Elder Dimock was an exception to this rule, though he, too, be- 
fore being a church-member, was a distiller.) It was not until 
after he had attended a meeting of the synod, where the temper- 
ance question was discussed, as late as 1828, that he felt some- 
thing must be done to arrest the tide of intemperance which 
threatened the spiritual death of so many. He first cast out the 
beam from his own eye, by destroying the few " cordials" he had 
in his house, and then he saw clearly to cast out the mote that 
was in the eye of his brother ; and one of the first efforts he made 

was upon Esquire T , of Harford, whose distillery was sending 

to Gibson, and even to Honesdale, constant supplies, while he was 
active as a member of Bible and tract societies, and contributed 
to home and foreign missions, which just then began to engage 
the attention of Christian men. Mr. B. set the matter before him 
by comparing the results likely to flow from the two sorts of in- 
fluence he was exerting; and the balance appeared so largely in 
favor of profanity, and Sabbath-desecration, and wife-heart-break- 
ing which so often accompanied the use of ardent spirits, that 
after this interview his distillery was turned into a " conference 
room." 

But it was a harder task for Deacon H , of New Milford, to 

bring his business to tally with an awakeued conscience. Eev. 

Mr. B , meeting him one day, spoke to him of the alarming 

increase of drunkenness in the county, and of the responsibility 
of the church in regard to it, and asked him to give up his dis- 
tillery. " Can't do it, Brother B ; it's the support of my 

family." Months passed on, and the parties again met. " How 

about the distillery, Brother H ?" " Brother B , I can't 

give it up — it's the support of my family." What could be said 
to this ? If a man provide not for his own household, is he not 
worse than an infidel ? More months went by, and the deacon 
again met his reprover. " How about that distillery ?" 

" It's given up," was the ready reply. 

" Ah, indeed ! but how about the family ?" 

" Oh, they're living yet !" 

But we anticipate a year or two. In the mean time, nearer 
home, the inconsistency of selling Bibles with one hand, and 
intoxicating drinks with the other, was not apparently felt. We 
may be allowed, without injury to the dear, silver-crowned head of 
the senior deacon of the Montrose Presbyterian Church, to quote 
from one of his numerous advertisements of the years 1824 and 
1825. After giving a long list of dry-goods, hardware, etc., he 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 559 

mentions books, among which were " Da boll's arithmetics, testa- 
ments," etc. (in small type), and just below in staring letters — 

WHISKEY «»« 

Ah, well ! it is to be hoped " the times of this ignorance God 
winked at," and that the " 100 pages of tracts for 10 cents" were 
blessed in spite of the wretched company they were obliged to 
keep. 

To form some idea of the demand for the product of distil- 
leries one must take into consideration, aside from the merchants 
(all of whom sold liquors), the number of " licensed taverners," 
and the fact that too often there were those who stooped to evade 
the law, and kept what were styled " tippling houses." As inti- 
mated before, some of it found its way to Honesdale, to supply 
laborers along the Delaware and Hudson Canal. 

Horatio Strong, of Willingboro (Great Bend), was licensed to 
keep a tavern in 1796 ; A. H. Kent, H. Tiffany, and W. Cham- 
berlin, in 1798 ; Sylvanus Hatch, in 1799, and the same year, 
Abel Kent, Wright Ohamberlin, and Hosea Tiffany (Nicholson, 
afterwards Harford), either renewed their licenses or procured 
them for the first time. Oliver Trowbridge and Stephen Wilson, 
in 1801 ; D. Summers, Jas. Parmeter, and Robt. Corbet, as early 
as 1801 ; McCarty and Isaac Post, in 1807 ; B. Hayden, A. Du 
Bois, Wm. Tanner (Clifford), John Kent, and William Ward, 
in 1812 ; Calvin Summers, Thomas (?) Mott, Eufus Bowman, 
and Zebulon Deans, in 1814 ; Benjamin Sayre and Seth Mitchell, 
in 1819. 

The Luzerne County Court, the last year of its connection 
with Susquehanna County, issued 72 licenses ; and at the follow- 
ing April session in Montrose, 15 were granted. 
v Some of the earlier prominent men who kept houses of en- 
tertainment are omitted, as dates cannot be supplied. It may 
be of interest to know some of the former innkeepers of our 
borough. The Montrose hotel, as is generally known, originally 
consisted of one sharp-gabled building, which has since been re- 
moved a little to the west of the one recently occupied by Mr. 
Koou. A part of the latter once formed the addition to the old 
one, though standing at a right angle with it. After Mr. Post 
moved to the corner now occupied by Boyd & Co., Chapman 
Carr kept the hotel — in 1818, or earlier ; in 1819, a Mr. Green 
was there; then, J. Buckingham, D. Searle, and Mr. Hepburn — 
the latter in 1831 — when the post-office had its first removal from 
that house to the opposite corner, afterwards occupied by Wil- 
liam L. Post. It was once a temperance house ; but of that, 
another time. 

Daniel Curtis's stand forms the nucleus around which J. S. 



560 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Tarbell's more imposing structure has been built. Doubtless Mr. 
C.'s noted " assembly room," in which so many have 

"Tripped the light fantastic toe," 

has quite sunk into insignificance. A. D. Olmstead and D. D. 
AVarner have been proprietors of the house since his day. 

A building, destroyed by fire within the last dozen years, stood 
just below what was long known as " Keeler's Hotel;" it was 
erected by Austin Howell in 1812 — the year after the village 
was laid out — and was used as a hotel many years, first by him- 
self, then by Eli Gregory; but as early as 1817, Edward Fuller 
had taken the stand, and he was there as late as 1828. There 
are those still living who recall with relish the dinners prepared 
by Mrs. F., a person of whom might be written a far higher 
commendation than that she excelled as a cook. Stephen Hinds 
afterward owned the house, and furnished accommodations for 
boarders. 

The Washington Hotel, on the site of the recent " Keystone," 
was kept by B. Say re, with the usual intoxicating accompani- 
ments, from 1819 till 1828, at least, but at last he dispensed with 
them altogether. For a few months in 1822 Henry Catlin run 
the establishment. The basement of " Keeler's Hotel" once served 
as a jail for the county, and there, also, Deacon N. Scott was 
master of the first school taught in the village. 

But to return. In 1827, the year previous to the one marked 
by the first temperance society in the county, a kind of despera- 
tion seems to have been felt by all classes in view of the deplor- 
able results of intemperate drinking. Some of those who felt 
themselves under the control of their appetites for liquor, treated 
their case as one needing medicine — and they were wise. The 
prescription used was " ipecacuanha, tartar emetic, and assafoetida ;" 
and we are told that individuals of Susquehanna County, of very 
intemperate habits, were cured by taking it. The Rev: Lyman 
Beecher's famous Six Sermons on Intemperance were widely cir- 
culated and read about this time, and were having a silent but 
powerful influence. The following occurrence, in June of the 
same year, doubtless started many into thought, if not into 
action. A man purchased a gallon of whiskey at one of the 
stores in Montrose one Monday, and was found dead on the 
Thursday following, in an unoccupied house a mile west of 
the village. He was seen Monday afternoon walking on the 
turnpike leading to this building, had not been seen after that, 
and must have been dead for two or three days. A jug contain- 
ing a quart of whiskey was found a few feet from him. No 
wonder that sober men sought to find some means of averting a 
repetition of such an occurrence, and that a few agreed to meet and 
" get up a pledge." The following is the result : — 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 561 

" At a meeting of a number of gentlemen 1 from different parts of the 
county, at the Presbyterian meeting-house, in Montrose, on the 1st day of 
October, 1828, the expediency of forming a society in this county for the sup- 
pression of intemperance was considered, and it was resolved that a meeting 
be held at the court-house in Montrose, on Monday evening of next December 
court, for the purpose of forming said society. Wm. Jessup, Sec." 

Agreeably to this notice, a large number of the citizens as- 
sembled at the time, December 1st, and place designated ; an,d 
the object of the meeting having been stated, the Hon. Davis 
Dimock was called to the chair, and Wm. Jessup appointed sec- 
retary. Addresses were made by several gentlemen, and a con- 
stitution was unanimously adopted. 

Gentlemen from nearly every township in the county were 
present, and a free discussion of the subject took place. The 
evils of intemperance were so apparent, that every member 
seemed desirous of doing everything in his power to prevent its 
progress. Forty-one gentlemen became members of the society. 

The annual meeting was appointed for Tuesday evening of the 
next court, and the choice of officers was deferred until that time, 
but it was resolved that Elder Davis Dimock, Eev. Burr Baldwin, 
Asa Dimock, Jr., and Wm. Jessup, should be an executive com- 
mittee, and be directed to procure printed copies of the constitu- 
tion for circulation, and to do what might be necessary to promote 
the objects of the society. A liberal contribution was then made 
to the funds of the society, and placed in the hands of the treas- 
urer pro tern., Asa Dimock, Jr. 

During court, December 1, 1828, the Grand Jury of this 
county, sensible of the great and growing evils of intemperance, 
and wishing to discourage it by example, resolved " to abolish 
the custom heretofore practiced, of using ardent spirits while in 
session." 

Work in different parts of the county now began in earnest. 

At the close of 1828 there were about four hundred and fifty 
temperance societies in the United States ; Susquehanna County 
now began to swell the number, even before the society at Mon- 
trose had elected its officers, which election was postponed to 
February court,. 1829, but in reality it was not effected till fourth 
of May following. Harford was thoroughly organized for work 
with twenty-five members, " hardly one of whom could have 

1 After a church meeting, thinly attended, a few days previous, Thursday, 
September 11, 1828, the following gentlemen signed the pledge : Wm. Jessup, 
Benjamin Sayre, Benajah McKenzie, Isaac P. Foster, and Deacon Moses Tyler. 

In Elder U. Dimock's diary, more than ten years before this pledge was 
adopted, the following record appears: "Feb. 1818. Wrote an agreement, for 
the inhabitants of the village, to suppress drunkenness." Thus, though it is 
not positively known that this " agreement" was ever circulated and signed, 
the fact of its having been written at such an early period, gives to it a peculiar 
value and entitles the autlior of it to the honor of being the Jirst in Susquehanna 
County to advocate the temperance reform. 

36 



562 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

been persuaded to take such a step one year before." The first 
officers elected April 21, 1829, 1 were John Carpenter, president; 
Lee Kichardson, vice-president ; Samuel E. Kingsbury, secretary ; 
Joab Tyler, Austin Jones, and James Greenwood, executive com- 
mittee. The Harford ladies' society was organized in June fol- 
lowing. On the 11th of August, 1829, the Gibson Society, 
auxiliary to the Susquehanna County society, was organized with 
more than thirty members. Wm. Abel, president ; Arunah Tif- 
fany, vice-president ; S. S. Chamberlin, secretary ; Moses Cham- 
berlin, treasurer; and Alamanzer Griswold, auditor. 

Though the Brooklyn young people's organization must have 
been completed about this time, by the encouragement of Kev. 
B. B., and though Choconut had certainly held temperance 
meetings previously, there is no mention of their officers until a 
year or two later. I. P. Foster, who left Montrose in 1829, was 
influential the same year in the organization of a society in 
Honesdale. 

The principle upon which all these societies agreed was this : 
" We will not allow the use of distilled spirits in our families, 
nor provide them for persons in our employment; and in all 
suitable ways we will discountenance the use of them in the 
commuiiity." 

Acting upon this, Benajah McKenzie, whose name appears 
among the first seven in the county pledged to its observance, 
determined, in the spring of 1829, to raise his dwelling without 
" the ardent." The builders, James Deans and Hezekiah Bullard, 
had enrolled their names with his, and so the raising was accom- 
plished, though the help of a still unenlightened deacon had to 
be dispensed with, as he, finding out the new order of things, 
mounted his horse and left for home. But his conduct is less 
astonishing than that of Mr. McK.'s wife. It was long before 
she could be reconciled to his course relative to the banishment 
of liquors from the entertainments offered to their friends and 
visitors — it savored so of meanness ! Time and again he labored 
to convince her of its propriety, but she could only weep for his 
disgrace, and shared her grief with Mrs. S. Bard ; for her hus- 
band, too, alas ! had joined the temperance society. 

Somewhat later, Walter Foster wished to have a saw-mill 
raised; and his convictions would not permit him to ask any 
one's help without the understanding that nothing stronger than 
cider would be on the ground ; consequently the work was but 
half finished the first day. " Stingy !" was thought and whispered, 
and Mr. F. had to come to Montrose for help. While stating his 
case he was overheard by A. H. Eead, who, learning the cause of 

' It is stated that the society was organized with fourteen members on the 
22d of January previous. 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 563 

his difficulty, volunteered to go down, and was afterwards present. 
It must be acknowledged the cider used with the whiskey that 
some obtained further down the Wyalusing wrought worse con- 
sequences than the latter would have done alone. 

About this time merchants' clerks were uneasy; and one, 
Chester B., refused to sell goods for Mr. Mulford, if he must have 
anything to do in dealing out liquors. 

When S. S. Mulford was ready, in 1830, to raise the large 
building, now the residence of his family, his brother-in-law — 
the late Judge Jessup — resolved the work should go on without 
distilled spirits, but in this he did not have the sympathy of the 
joiner ; consequently a whiskey barrel was rolled into the barn, 
for, "Brother William wouldn't have it any nearer!" Mrs. M. 
had done her best to get rid of it altogether by substituting 
home-made beer and light gingerbread, of which all were invited 
to partake; but some of those engaged — afterwards noble tem- 
perance men — declined, and "sneaked off to the barn!" 

The reports of the societies now began to come in. 

The first annual meeting of the Susquehanna County Temper- 
ance Society was held at the court-house the 2d of February, 
1830. The secretary reported five hundred members of the 
society and its auxiliaries — an encouraging account of one year's 
operations. John L. Kite and others addressed the large and 
respectable audience. Elder Davis Dimock was again elected 
president; Wm. Jessup, secretary; and Asa Dimock, Jr., treasurer. 
It does not appear that any change was made in the constitution, 
which still left open a wide door to those who wished to withdraw 
from the society, but provided no means for turning out any law- 
less member. One gentleman, at least, refused to have any con- 
nection with the society until this matter was remedied. 

February court, 1830, made a move in the right direction by 
the following rules adopted for the regulation of its decisions in 
the granting of licenses for keeping public-houses: — 

" No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house where the same is 
not necessary for the accommodation of the inhabitants and travelers. 

" No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house whose principal object 
in obtaining such license is for the mere purpose of selling intoxicating 
liquors, without providing other accommodations suitable and necessary for 
travelers. 

" No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house who is known to be 
habitually or occasionally intemperate. 

"No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house who is known to per- 
mit gambling, drunkenness, or any other disorders in his house, or who is 
known to be in the habit of permitting the meeting of his neighbors or others 
at his house on Sundays for the purpose of drinking or other worldly busi- 
ness." 

On the 25th of that month, the Bridgewater and Montrose 
Society was formed, auxiliary to the " American Society for the 



564 HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

promotion of Temperance." There was a large number present, 
and the merchants of the village manifested their approbation by 
closing their stores during the meeting. Addresses were de- 
livered by the Rev. D. Deruelle, J. W. Raynsford, and Eld. D. 
Dimock, after which a constitution was adopted, and officers 
chosen: D. Post, president; B. Kingsbury, Jr., secretary. 

By the 3d of April of that year, the Brooklyn Society had en- 
rolled 104 members. Their constitution was "formed upon the 
principles of total abstinence." Dr. Enoch Mack and Rev. 
Messrs. Cook, Comfort, and Coryell made addresses at a meeting 
held at the Presbyterian meeting-house, April 3d. 

The M. E. church, at a quarterly meeting held in the town of 
Springville, a little later, passed resolutions encouraging the for- 
mation of associations to discourage the use of ardent spirits 
except as a medicine. 

June 2d, 1830, a meeting was held in a barn in Springville, on 
the farm owned by Daniel Spencer (whose distillery was the first 
in Springville), and a temperance pledge circulated, prohibiting 
the use of ardent spirits, and a society formed. The first officers 
were : Yolney Avery, president ; E. B. Slade, vice-president ; 
Justus Knapp, secretary ; Gideon Lyman, Thomas Lane, Jethro 
Hatch, Jonathan Nutt, Thomas Cassedy, Abiathar Tuttle, Daniel 
S. Avery, managers. The society met quarterly for a few years, 
but finally disbanded and passed away. Number of names — 4y 
men, 126 women. 

By the 12th of July, 1830, the Harford Society reported a 
membership of 41, which, with the 70 belonging to the female 
society, organized in June, 1829, made " 111 individuals who 
have pledged themselves to abstinence except in cases of bodily 
infirmity." Their quarterly meeting, then held, was addressed 
by Rev. Messrs. Adams and Miller. "Resolved (by the ladies), 
not to associate with young men who are in the habit of drink- 
ing spirits." 

The annual meeting of the Bridgewater and Montrose Society 
was held at the Baptist church, 25th October, 1830,' when it was 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to bring in at the next meet- 
ing of the society a list of the families within our bounds with a view to the 

1 The writer does not understand why the annual meeting should have been 
held only eight months after the organization of the society, nor why it was 
made auxiliary to the "American Society," rather than to the Susquehanna 
County Society. It appears that at a meeting held Dec. 19th, 1831, it was re- 
solved to amend the constitution so as to read, " Auxiliary to the Misquehanna 
County Society;" and that, instead of holding the annual meeting on Tuesday 
evening of September court, it should be on the first Monday in January ; and 
that the Secretary report annually to the Secretary of the Susquehanna County 
Society. Officers for 1832: E. Kingsbury, Jr., president ; Jeremiah Meacham 
and Hubbard Avery, vice-presidents ; Win. Foster, secretary ; and Hyde Crocker, 
treasurer. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 565 

visiting of every family by the members of the society upon the subject of 
temperance. 

"■Resolved, That a committee be appointed to procure a sufficient number 
of the best publications on the subject of temperance as soon as practicable. 

"Resolved, That Dr. C. Fraser, Elder D. Dimock, Rev. D. Deruelle, D. 
Post, Wm. Jessup, and E. Kingsbury, Jr., Esqs., compose said committee." 

Officers for the year following: Nehemiah Scott, president; 
J. W. Raynsford, Nathaniel Curtis, vice-presidents; Francis 
Perkins, treasurer; and John F. Deans, secretary. 

In the fall of that year, 37 retailers of foreign merchandise and 
liquors within the county of Susquehanna are reported. All 
were below the fifth class, that is, their annual sales did not 
equal $15,000. 

The first meeting of a society known as the Choconut and 
Silver Lake Society, was held on the first Saturday of January, 
1830. 1 To the constitution then adopted about 40 signatures 
were attached. Within a year, 91 were pledged to total absti- 
nence. Gordon Bliss, as secretary, says, January 1st, 1831 : — 

"Your committee speak with confidence and pleasure of the beneficial 
results of the operations of our society. Within the sphere of its influence, 
the quantity of ardent spirits consumed during the last year is not more than 
one-fourth as great as in 1827. At one place where whiskey was once vended 
in the ratio of a barrel per week, the sale has very materially decreased. At 
another, where a barrel was generally retailed in three months, none is now 
kept for sale or use. On three or four of the largest farms in the neighbor- 
hood, where it was a custom to use ardent spirits plentifully in harvest time, 
not a drop was used during the last season. Mechanics discourage the use 
of it. Of eighteen within our limits, fifteen use none; and at a brickyard, 
where it was once thought indispensable, none was furnished during the last 
season — more and better brick were made than before. 

" In this vicinity, there are about thirty families, consisting of at least a 
hundred and eighty persons, who may be said to entirely abstain from the 
use of ardent spirits. There are also about the same number who come near 
the principles and practices of the society — acknowledging its beneficial 
efforts, but who as yet withhold their names from our constitution. There 
is still another class consisting of about twenty families who regard tempe- 
rance societies as dangerous combinations for the ultimate union of Church 
and State, and for destroying the liberties of our happy Republic." 

Added to the influence of Beecher's Sermons about three years 
previous, the secretary speaks of the circulation of Kitteridge's, 
Humphrey's, Porter's, and Beman's Addresses, as awakening the 
public mind on the subject of temperance. Certainly the march 
forward in the meantime had been remarkably rapid. 

Refuting the prejudice against "dangerous combinations," the 
editors of the 'Register,' in January, 1831, remark, respecting 
the Susquehanna County Society: "Constituted, as this society 
is, of members of various denominations of Christians — united 

1 So it is stated in the Annual Report, but the compjler is at a loss how to 
reconcile it with the fact that in March, 1829, there appeared in the 'Susque- 
hanna Register,' two and a half columns of poetry, being an " address delivered 
before the Choconut and Silver Lake Society, for the promotion of temperance." 



566 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

with many who are under no special religious obligation what- 
ever — it is wholly impossible that its benevolent design should 
be perverted to any sectarian or selfish purpose." 

Early in 1831. a temperance society was formed in Lawsville, 
enrolling about 40 members. Its officers for the first year were 
ISTehemiah Park, president; Ebenezer Leigbton, vice-president; 
Anson Smith, secretary; and Henry B. Smith, treasurer. 

To show to what extent, in 1832, the interest of the public was 
excited in behalf of temperance, and how thoroughly in earnest 
its promoters were, a list of the township committees, whose duty 
it was to present the constitution of the Susquehanna County So- 
ciety to every person therein, is here given : — 

Auburn. — Edward Dawson, Daniel Cooley. 

Bridgewater. — James Deans, Hubbard Avery, J. W. Hill, Na- 
thaniel Curtis, N. Scott, J. Meacham. 

Brooklyn. — Edward L. Gere, Thomas Garland, Alfred Mack. 

Ohoconut. — Chauncey Wright, John Mann, Eben Griswold. 

Clifford.— Earl Wheeler, Dr. Wm. Terbell, B. P. Bailey. 

Great Bend. — P. Catlin, Daniel Lyon, John McKinney. 

Gibson.— Wm. Abel, Dr. C. Tyler, Dr. Wm. Pride. 

Harmony. — John Comfort, Jessie Lane. 

Herrick. — Walter Lyon, Jabez Tyler. 

Harford. — Joab Tyler, M. Oakley, Enos Thatcher. 

Jackson. — H. Bushnell, Daniel Tingley, Simeon Tucker. 

Lawsville. — Nehemiah Park, Lyman Smith, H. B. Smith. 

Lenox. — Henry Doud. 

Middletoion. — J. A. Birchard, Jr., 0. Mott, Jr. 

Montrose. — D. Dimock, Jr., Wm Foster, A. L. Post. 

New Milford.—Seth Mitchell, J. B. Bill, Col. Job Tyler. 

Hush. — Robert Griffis. 

Silver Lake. — Lewis Chamberlin, Edward White, Edwin Bliss. 

Springville. — Dr. J. Hatch, Jairus Day, Daniel B. Avery. 

Wm. Jessup was appointed to represent this society at the an- 
nual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society. 

Of the training days, May 29th and 30th, of the same year, the 
'Yolunteer' reported thus: "On neither of those days was there 
to be seen any drunkenness, rioting, or disorderly conduct what- 
ever." 

The Young Men's Society of Montrose and vicinity, was organ- 
ized June 9, 1832. 

On motion of R. B. Gregory, it was 

Resolved, That the following gentlemen be officers for the ensu- 
ing year, viz., Albert L. Post, president; George Williston, and 
Ezra S. Park, vice-presidents; F. M. Williams, secretary; H. 
J. Webb, treasurer; Isaac Fuller, D. C. Warner, and A. G. Dim- 
ock, committee of vigilance. 

The Montrose Temperance Hotel is announced in September, 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 567 

Benjamin Sayre, proprietor ; who states : " A variety of whole- 
some and refreshing drinks will be kept as a substitute for ardent 
spirits." About the time he signed the pledge, in 1829, persons 
could be accommodated at his restaurant with pies, oysters, etc., 
and " a cup of hot coffee ;" and though his house had then been 
recently fitted up for the use of the public, no mention was made 
of liquors for their refreshment. 

Benjamin Taylor, of Great Bend, notifies the public that no 
ardent spirits will be sold at his house after the 1st of January, 
1833. 

At the meeting of the County Society the preceding January, 
on motion of O. Collins, it was 

" Resolved, That duty to the public demands from the patriot, the moralist, 
the philanthropist, and the Christian, that, all other things being equal, he 
should promote the cause of temperance by patronizing those who cease to 
manufacture, vend, or use ardent spirits, in their common and usual forms." 

At the next annual meeting, February 4, 1833, it was stated 
that the adoption of this resolution being by many members 
deemed inexpedient, the society without expressing any opinion 
as to the principle therein contained, deemed it best to rescind 
the same. The Choconut and Silver Lake Society approved the 
resolution. 

The American Temperance Society had recommended through 
the State Society, that on the 26th of February, 1833, meetings 
of temperance societies should be held simultaneously in all the; 
cities, towns, and villages of the United States ; it was recom- 
mended by the Susquehanna County Society, that the township 
societies hold meetings in accordance with this action of the 
American Society (composed of twenty-one State societies). 

March 4, 1833, the Young Men's Society became a county 
affair : C. F. Read, secretary, in place of F. M. Williams, resigned. 

In 1833, the Second Annual Report of the Choconut and 
Silver Lake Society (Almerin Turner, president; Lewis Cham- 
berlin, secretary), stated that " nine-tenths of the hay and grain 
that was cut and secured within the limits of the society, the 
summer past, was done without the aid of ardent spirits ; and 
three-fourths of the mechanics perform their business without 
using it themselves or furnishing it to their workmen." 

April 29, 1833, the Susquehanna County Society and the 
Young Men's Society, met in conjunction at the court-house, and 
their united thanks were offered to the Grand Jury for the pre- 
sentment that day made, in which "the Jury respectfully suggest 
to the court the policy of suppressing rather than increasing the 
present number of tavern licenses;" and in which they "con- 
template with great satisfaction and deep personal interest the 
laudable efforts in progress by the patriotic citizens of this 
county, for the suppression of the prolific and destructive vice 
of intemperance. James Newman, Foreman." 



568 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Hon. D. Dimock, Eev. S.Marks, John Mann, and Wm. Jessnp, 
were appointed delegates to represent both societies in the State 
Convention the following May, at Philadelphia. 

On Thursday evening of the same week, the Young Men's 
Society elected officers for the ensuing year, making C. L. Ward, 
president, and Geo. Williston and Ezra S. Park, vice-presidents. 

At a meeting in Lawsville, at the Presbyterian meeting-house, 
May 24, the constitution of a Young People's Society was 
adopted and signed. Wm. Greene was elected president; S. 
Park, Jr., and J. Smith, vice-presidents; and N. Leighton, secre- 
tary. The following resolution was unanimously passed : — 

"Resolved, That we highly approve of the formation of the Young Men's 
County Temperance Society, but do not deem it expedient to become aux- 
iliary thereto, so long as its constitution precludes young ladies from mem- 
bership." 

Two years before this, in an address delivered by F. Lusk, A.B., 
before the Young People's Society, Binghamton, N. Y., he 
said : — 

" Eespecting the practicability of soliciting the names of females to our 
subscription, the only ground of objection, wearing the least shadow of 
plausibility, consists in the suggestion that by publicly obligating themselves 
.'to abstain from the use of distilled spirits,' tliey are in danger of impairing 
the usual confidence in their acknowledged purity and firmness of character." 
But he added : " Rather than dampen their zeal in this worthy cause, or 
diminish their solicitude for a ruder sex, we would heartily solicit their signi- 
fied approbation, too well convinced of their deep and direct interest in the 
success of this important undertaking, to reject their kindly proffered 
assistance." 

In May, 1833, the Bridgewater and Montrose Young Men's 
Society was organized. D. A. Lathrop was elected president; 
George V. Bentley and Philander Lines, vice-presidents ; J. H. 
Dimock, secretary; Wm. J. Turrell, treasurer ; Chapman Bald- 
win, James Stout, Elias West, Jr., examining committee. Harris 
W. Patrick and Silas Perkins were afterwards added to this 
committee for the purpose of obtaining the names of all the 
young men in the township and borough, to present them to the 
society at the next annual meeting. D. Wilmot, Philip Fraser, 
Benj. Case, and H. W. Patrick were invited to speak. 

During the first six months of 1834, a newspaper controversy 
was maintained with much spirit, respecting the question, Is the 
making, vending, and using of ardent spirits a moral evil? Per- 
haps it is not too much to say that from this, in part, arose the 
distinction afterwards drawn between temperance and total ab- 
stinence men. The question was originally brought up Dec. 
1833, at a quarterly meeting of the County Temperance Society 
on motion of Wm. Jessup, seconded by J. W. Raynsford, and 
we find it still open to discussion in November, 1835. At the 
annual meeting of the Bridgewater and Montrose Young Men's 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 569 

Society, the young ladies within the bounds of the society were 
invited to subscribe their names to the constitution. 

In the programme of a 4th of July dinner that year, it was 
stated that " light wines, lemonade, etc., will be furnished, but 
ardent spirits wholly excluded from the table." 

Early in 1835, the ladies of Montrose were solicited to write 
essays on the subject. Mrs. L. 0. Searle and Miss Lucretia 
Loomis, each obtained a ten dollar prize. 

At the annual meeting of the Harford Society, February 26, 
1885, statistics were given, showing that, attached to the consti- 
tution of the three societies in that town, were 312 names — 86 
added the previous year. 

October 20, 1835, the Bridgewater and Montrose Young Men's 
Society question thus : " Would it be policy for this society to 
adopt the principle of total abstinence from all intoxicating 
drinks ?" 

New Milford, in the mean time, had been active, holding meet- 
ings at Haydenville, Moxley's school-house, and even at the 
Episcopal church. 

In 1836, the rise of abolitionism occasioned apparently a lull 
in the excitement on the subject of temperance ; though a pro- 
position was broached to sustain in Montrose a periodical devoted 
to its interests, it was never established. 

REVIEW OF SOCIETIES FOR FIVE YEARS. 

Susquehanna County Society, organized December 1, 1828. 

Harford Society, April, 1829. 

Harford Ladies' Society, June, 1829. 

Brooklyn Society, 1829. 

Gibson Society, organized August, 1829. 

Choconut Society, January, 1830. 

Bridgewater and Montrose Society, February, 1830. 

Springville Society, June, 1830. 

Lawsville Society, early in 1831. 

Susquehanna County Society, auxiliary to State Society, January, 1832. 

Young Men's Temperance Society, June, 1832. 

Middletown Society, 1832. 

Young Men's Society — a county affair — March, 1833. 

Lawsville, " don't become auxiliary for cause" May, 1833. 

New Milford Society, May, 1833. 

Bridgewater and Montrose Young Men's Society, May, 1833. 

Young Men's Society (independent), Harford, September, 1834. 

In May, 1839, a meeting was held at the court-house, in favor 
of the proposition before the Legislature, submitting to the 
people the decision in regard to the sale of intoxicating drinks ; 
Joab Tyler, chairman. 

In July following, great interest was excited in the temperance 
cause, by a series of lectures from Eev. Thomas P. Hunt, of 
Wilkes-Barre. 

Early in 18-10, the court judges at an adjourned session, took 



570 HISTOBY OP SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

up tbe subject of licensing taverns. All manifested a disposition 
to go to the extent of the law in restraining tippling. One of 
them stated, " No man may expect to obtain a license who 
knowingly sells a glass of grog to a person who is in the habit 
of getting intoxicated." 

Temperance meetings were regularly maintained. 

Early in 1842, a great impetus was given to them by the rise 
of the " Washingtonians," or reformed inebriates, and the Sons 
of Temperance. 

For the last fifteen or twenty years, special activity in the 
temperance cause has been mostly confined to the Good Tem- 
plars. There have been forty lodges in the county, but at present 
(April, 1872) there are only twenty-five. 

Susquehanna, County Good Templars 1 Lodges. 

No. 549. Glenwood. 

" 551. Dundaff. 

" 555. Lathrop, Hop Bottom. 

" 556. South Harford, Harford. 

" 557. Lenoxville. 

" 565. Silver Creek, Lawsville 

Center. 

" 568. Reform, New Milford. 

" 592. East Bridgewater. 

" 618. Cambrian, Uniondale. 

" 632. City, Dundaff. 

" 720. Earnest, West Lenox. 

" 763. Brookdale. 



No. 4. Great Bend. 
" 92. Crescent, New Milford. 
" 93. Brooklyn. 
" 97. Regulator, North Jackson. 
"• 439. Lanesboro'. 
" 441. Thomson Center, Thom- 
son. 
" 443. South Gibson. 
" 444. Harford. 
" 456. Susquehanna Depot 
" 460. No Compromise, Gibson. 
'• 463. Montrose. 
" 499. Olive Leaf, Harford. 
" 512. Brackney. 

Political action on the subject is now commanding attention 

HON. SIMEON B. CHASE 

Was born at Gibson, Susquehanna County, April 18, 1828, and has always 
resided in this county. By teaching school in winter to earn the means, and 
studying industriously at all times, he prepared himself to enter Hamilton 
College, New York, where he graduated with honors in 1851. The expenses 
of his collegiate course were partially defrayed by his acting as deputy pro- 
thonotary. Industrious and thrifty, he has paddled his own canoe, as most 
of our best men have done. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1852 ; and for four years, commencing with 1851, he edited and published 
the ' Montrose Democrat' in connection with E. B. Chase. 

Politically, he acted with the Democratic party until 1856, when he united 
in the formation of the Republican party, of which he became a leading and 
influential member. He was chairman of the State Convention of 1856, 
which nominated David Wilmot for Governor, and was chairman of com- 
mittee on nominations in one convention since. In the same year he was 
elected a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, and 
re-elected in 1857, '58, and '59. Here he took a high rank, occupying the 
position of chairman of the ways and means, judiciary, and other important 
committees. He was a prominent candidate for speaker one term, and 
though not elected, he occupied the speaker's chair most of the session, on 
account of the protracted illness of the speaker elect. Thoroughly familiar 
with parliamentary law, self-possessed, firm, an excellent speaker, and of 
commanding and agreeable address, he makes a good presiding officer. 



. 




:■■■■■■'.. 
/■■:■:' '■ 




HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 571 

He continued the practice of law in addition to his public duties until 
August, 1868, when he was employed by the Good Templars to give his 
entire time to the temperance work. 

He has worked earnestly with every organization formed to resist the in- 
crease of intemperance, and more especially with the Sons of Temperance, 
from 1850 till 1853, and with the Good Templars since that time. 

He has been presiding officer of either State or National lodges almost 
continuously, from 1856 till the present time, sixteen years, and has attended 
everv session of the R. W. G. L. of North America, over which he presided 
for five consecutive years. He is now the honored W. C. r I\ of Pennsylvania, 
a position he has filled for seven years with ability and dignity. 

He is a polished writer, and has written much that has exerted an influence 
at the time and since. 

He has written more or less on the rituals, platforms, etc,, of the order, 
largely shaping the policy and purposes of the Good Templars of Pennsyl- 
vania and the Union. 

He has resided at Great Bend for the last twenty years. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE CENSUS. 
Masonry in Susquehanna County. 

The following is a list of the lodges, chapters, and command- 
eries : — 

1. A masonic lodge in Clifford was installed January 24, 1811. Its officers 
were David Taylor, Jonathan Wilber, Joseph Potter, Oliver Granger, and 
Abel Kent. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. E. Kings- 
bury. 

2. Nothing further is known of this lodge, but it is possible, that as Gib- 
son was then a part of Clifford, the "North Star" Lodge, No. 119, installed 
at Gibson in 1816, may have superseded the former. 

3. The "Rising Sun" Lodge, No. 149, in Montrose, was chartered Decem- 
ber 2, 1816 ; Jonah Brewster, W. M. ; Perez Perkins, S. W. ; Wm. C. Turrell, 
J. W. B. T. Case, Isaac Post, and George Clagget formed a committee in 
this lodge, and at its installation Eld. Davis Dimock preached a sermon. 
Mason Denison, and Hiram Finch were later officers. It closed its working 
in the year 1825. [There is incidental mention of _" Franklin" Lodge in the 
year 1824, as not remote; but its location is not given.] 

4. The " Evening Star" Lodge, No. 206, in Middletown (at Bostwick's— 
now in Forest Lake), was chartered September 5, 1825 ; Wm. C. Turrell, W. 
M. ; Seth Taylor, S. W.; Jonathan C. Sherman, J. W. It ceased its work 
in 1827. 

5. The " Morning Dawn" Lodge, No. 207, in Brooklyn, was chartered Juue 
5, 1826 ; Ebenezer Gere, W. M. ; Charles R. Marsh, S. W. ; Joseph Lines, 
J. W. Closed in 1827. 

6. "Montrose" Lodge, No. 213, in Montrose, was chartered September 23, 
1827 ; Jonah Brewster, W. M. ; James VV. Hill, S. W. ; Daniel Lathrop, J. 
W. Closed in 1828. 

7. " Warren" Lodge, No. 240, in Montrose, was chartered June 4, 1849 ; 



572 



HISTOEY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Robert C. Simpson, W. M. ; Ezra S. Park, S. W. ; James W. Chapman, 
J. W. 

8. "Great Bend" Lodge, No. 338, at Great Bend Borough. Chartered 
March, 1860 ; John H. Dusenbury, W. M. ; R. T. Stephens, S. W. ; George 
W. Orange, J. W. 

9. A lodge was installed at Clifford three or four years ago ; Ezra Lewis, 
Dr. Gardner, and M. C. Stewart, officers. 

10. "Canawacta" Lodge, No. 360, at Susquehanna Depot. Chartered 
December 18, 1865 ; Wm. M. Post, W. M. ; George N. Brown, S. W. ; H. 
P. Moody, J. W. 

11. "Harford" Lodge, No. 445, is held in Harford. 

12. A lodge is also at work, it is believed, in New Milford. 

1. Warren Chapter, No. 180, at Montrose, was chartered February 19, 
1855 ; George L. Stone, H. P. ; Braton Richardson, K. ; Samuel S. Benjamin, 
Scribe. 

2. Great Bend H. R. A. Chapter, No. 210, at Great Bend. Chartered 
May, 1866 ; J. H. Dusenbury, J. P.; C. P. Bigelow, M. D., K. ; T. D. Hays, 
Scribe. 

1. Great Bend Commandery, No. 27, at Great Bend. Chartered June, 
1867 ; J. H. Dusenbury, Commander ; T. D. Hays, General; G. F. Thompson, 
Cap. Gen. 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

Subordinate Lodges. 



Montrose, 


No 


151. 


Instituted at Montrose, March, 1846. 


Present members 150 


Canawacta, 


" 


207. 


" 


New Milford, Dec. 1847. 


Surrendered charter. 


Brooklyn, 


" 


313. 


ii 


Brooklyn, July, 1848. 


Present members 60 


Staeucca, 


" 


423. 


•'• 


Susquehanna Depot. 


Present members 105 


Friendsville, 


" 


471. 


" 


Friendsville. 


Surrendered charter. 


Huron, 


<< 


483. 


i« 


Jackson. 


65 


Live Oak, 


" 


635. 


" 


Harford. 


30 



St. John, No. 50. 
Canawacta, " 225. 



Total, 410 

ROBERT WALLACE, 

Susquehanna Depot, D. D. Grand Master. 

Encampments. 

Instituted at Montrose, Febr'y, 1847. Present members 42 
" Susq. Depot, Mar. 1872. Present members 38 

Total, 80 
C. C. HALSEY, 

Montrose, D. D. Grand Patriarch. 

RebeJcah Lodge. 

Mary, No. 7. Instituted at Montrose, 1869. 

Amount paid for relief for year ending April 1, 1872 ..... $500 

Amount of funds on hand April 1, 1872 $4000 

The Grand Friendship Society of 1820-22, or longer. (The 
Sons of Temperance and Good Templars are elsewhere noticed.) 

The Grand Army of the Eepublic, Post 41, at Montrose ; 
53, at Susquehanna Depot; 96, at Great Bend; and 143, at 
Brooklyn. 

There is a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers at Susquehanna 
Depot. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



573 



THE CENSUS. 

In 1810, Susquehanna County, although erected by act of 
legislature, was still officially connected with Luzerne; and the 
population of several of the townships included those of both 
counties, as Nicholson, Clifford, Braintrirn, Eush, and Bridge- 
water. The last-named, however, was almost entirely above 
the line of division, and its population 1418; that of Willing- 
borough, 351 ; Harmony, 80 ; Lawsville, 169 ; New Milford, 
178. The census was taken by Isaac A. Chapman. 



Population in 1820. {Taken by Bela Jones.) 













Males. 


Females. 


Total. 


Auburn 113 


93 


306 


Bridgewater 










. 1027 


956 


1983 


Choconut 










257 


249 


506 


Clifford . 










. 349 


332 


681 


Gibson . 










455 


455 


910 


Great Bend 










. 289 


236 


525 


Harford 










321 


319 


640 


Harmony 










80 


93 


173 


Jackson 










128 


137 , 


265 


Lawsville 










229 


237 


466 


Lenox . 










110 


104 


214 


Middletown 










276 


253 


531 


New Milford 










. 324 


286 


610 


Rush 










134 


108 


242 


Silver Lake 










258 


198 


456 


Springville 










385 


326 


711 


Waterford 










401 


378 


779 


Total whites 






5145 


4762 


9905 


Total blacks 










51 




















Total number inhabitants 



9958 



Of the above there were the following classifications: farmers, 1864; me- 
chanics, 261 ; merchants, 23 ; foreigners not naturalized, 309. 

There were in the county : sheep, 12,259 ; horses, 857 ; oxen, 1358 ; cows, 
2586; grist-mills. 29 ; saw-mills, 62 ; fulling-mills, 7 ; carding machines, 8 ; 
tanneries, 5; grain distilleries, 12. 

There was manufactured in the county during the year ending August 1, 
1820 : of woolen cloth, 37,797 yards ; of linen cloth, 52,762 yards 

There was in the county (1820), of improved lands, 33,780 acres ; of un- 
improved lands, 171,831 acres ; of unseated lands, 224,935 acres. Total acres 
in county, 430,546 acres. 

The valuation of taxable property as collected from assessment rolls of 
1821, amounted to $1,007,698. Number of taxables, 1821, 2061. 



574 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



Population in 1830. 



Auburn . 


, . 




. 516 


Herrick . 






468 


Borough of Dundaff 




298 


Jackson . 






641 


Borough of Montrose 




415 


Lawsville 






878 


Bridgewater 1 . 




2450 


Lenox 






. 546 


Brooklyn 2 






. 1350 


Middletown 






683 


Choconut 






780 


New Milford . 






1000 


Clifford . 






. 866 


Rush 






643 


Gibson 






. 1081 


Silver Lake 






516 


Great Bend 






797 


Springville 3 






. 1514 


Harford . 
Harmony 






. 999 
341 








Total . . . 16,782 


[Official total, 16,787.] 


Population in 1840. (Taken by J. W. Chapman.) 


Auburn 1113 


Herrick 629 


Bridgewater 






2082 


Jackson . 






754 


Brooklyn . 






1474 


Liberty . 






554 


Clifford . 






1068 


Lenox 






800 


Choconut 






952 


Middletown 






589 


Dimock . 






998 


Montrose 






632 


Dundaff . 






304 


New Milford 






1148 


Franklin . 






515 


Rush 






1039 


Forest Lake . 






606 


Springville 






926 


Great Bend 






859 


Silver Lake 






907 


Gibson 






1219 


Thomson 






325 


Harford . 
Harmony 






1179 
523 








21,195 


Population in 1850. 


Auburn 1837 


Herrick . .... 824 


Apolacon . 




748 


Jackson . 




978 


Bridgewater 




1548 


Jessup 




840 


Brooklyn 




1082 


Lathrop . 




510 


Choconut 




894 


Lenox 




1443 


Clifford . 




1647 


Liberty . 




833 


Dimock . 




1056 


Middletown 




1140 


Dundaff . 




. 296 


Montrose 




917 


Forest Lake 




780 


New Milford township 




1433 


Friendsville 




185 


Rush 




1159 


Franklin . 




703 


Silver Lake 




1213 


Gibson 




1459 


Springville 




1148 


Great Bend township 




1150 


Thomson . 




509 


Harford . 
Harmony 




1258 

1578 






29,168 


[This is in e> 


;cess of th 


e offi< 


;ial tota 


I by 480.] 









The census of 1860 was taken by A. J. Garretson ; of 1870, by 
James Howe, Philo Burritt, David Summers, Horace A. Deans, 
and C. B. Davis: — 



1 Before the erection of Forest Lake and Jessup. 

2 " " " Lathrop. 
s " " " Dimock. 



HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA C0UNT7. 



575 





Comparison 


yf Population. 








1860. 


1870. 




1 8f.0. 


1870. 


Apolacon . 


| 910 


528 


Jessup 


867 


804 


Little Meadows 


133 


Lathrop 


876 


983 


Auburn 


2164 


2006 


Lenox 


1791 


1751 


A rarat 


500 


771 


Liberty 


995 


1030 


Bridgewater 


1785 


1459 


Middletown 


923 


871 


Brooklyn . 


1213 


1128 


Montrose . 


1268 


1463 


Choconut . 


1068 


939 


New Milford township 1515 


1647 


Clifford . 


1624 


1532 


" borough 


414 


600 


Dundaff . 


245 


187 


Oakland 


522 


1106 


Dimock 


1181 


1124 


Susquehanna Depot . 


2080 


2729 


Friendsville 


202 


223 


Rush .... 


1471 


1418 


Forest Lake 


1125 


995 


Silver Lake 


1313 


1079 


Franklin . 


805 


849 


Springville 


1346 


1424 


Gibson 


1439 


1368 


Thomson . 


558 


701 


Great Bend township 
" borough 


1 1976 


1431 








855 




36,714 


38,066 


Harford 


1441 


1595 






36,714 


Harmony . 
Herrick 


1072 


1212 








904 


950 


Gains 




1,352 


Jackson 


1121 


1175 









By comparing this result with the official totals, a discrepancy 
appears : — 

For 1860, 36,267. For 1870, 37,523. Gains, 1256. Difference, 96. 

Great Bend and Little Meadows boroughs were not enume- 
rated separately in 1860, and part of Bridgewater has been added 
to Montrose since that date, so that the change in those districts 
is not exactly known. 

" The war and western migration depleted some of our best 
townships. Every western township lost heavily; and all the 
southern, excepting Lathrop and Springville, also Gibson, Clifford, 
and Dundaff, on the east, lost in population. But the northeastern 
portion of the county — those districts, notably, which are threaded 
by the railroads, or so near as to feel their business influences — ■ 
all exhibited a healthy growth. New Milford township and 
borough gained 318, Great Bend 310, and the three districts into 
which old Harmony is divided (viz., Harmony, Susquehanna 
Depot, and Oakland), show an increase of 1373. 

"The lesson is a telling one in urging the importance of the 
railway through the centre of the county, and also of one or 
more on our western borders. The increase in wealth and busi- 
ness accommodations is equal to that of the population." 

Progress by Decades. 

Population in 1820 9,960 Gains. 

1830 16,787 6827 

1840 21,195 4408 

1850 28,688 7493 

1860 36,267 7579 

1870 37,523 1256 

Total in fifty years, 27,563 — or about 550 per year. 



576 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Susquehanna County is the twenty fourth in the State in point 
of population. There are forty-two counties with a smaller popu- 
lation. The valuation of personal property in the county is 
$2,343,273 60, and the number of taxables is 9532. The assess- 
ment of tax amounts to $5987 06, which, by act of assembly, 
approved April 16th, 1868, is reduced fifty per cent. The half 
mill tax of May, 1861, is $1169 83. The county is in the tenth 
military division, and is associated with Wayne in that division. 
There is no organization of militia in the district. The total 
number of men subject to military duty from the county is 511 — 
from the division, 2272. 

In 1870, the native population was 33,519 ; foreign born resi- 
dents, 4004. Of the latter, 84 were born in British America ; 
665 in England and Wales; 2879 in Ireland; 97 in Scotland; 
215 in Germany ; 14 in France; 21 in Sweden and Norway ; 4 
in Switzerland ; 10 in Holland ; 2 in Italy. 

There were also 9284, one or both of whose parents were foreign. 

Prior to 1820, the few colored persons (two or three of whom 
were slaves), in this section were numbered, of course, in Luzerne 
County. 

In 1820, there were fifty in Susquehanna County; in 1830, 
seventy-three ; in 1840, ninety-seven ; in 1850, one hundred and 
sixty; in 1860, two hundred and nine; in 1870, two hundred 
and forty-nine. 

In 1850, there were seventeen more colored persons in Mon- 
trose than in all the rest of the county; in I860, twenty-seven 
more ; and in 1870, ninety-one more. 

In 1850, they were found in seventeen townships and bor- 
oughs; in 1860 and 1870, in but fifteen. 

There are twenty-one persons who are deaf and dumb — twelve 
males and nine females ; the oldest is over fifty and under fifty- 
five years of age. Three males and one female are in the Deaf 
and Dumb Asylum at Philadelphia. 

The following figures are taken from the Annual Report of the 
Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania for the year 1871 : — 

Counties. Population. Square miles. Acres. 

Susquehanna 37,523 797 510,080 

Bradford 53,204 1174 751,360 

Luzerne 160,755 1400 896,000 

Wayne 33,118 720 460,800 

Wyoming 14,585 409 261,760 



APPENDIX. 



JOE SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET. 
" A madman, or a fool, hath ever set the world agog." 

It is a fact, of which we are not particularly proud, that Susquehanna 
County harbored such a madman as Joe Smith at the period when he was 
engaged in the compilation, or, rather, the translation, of the Book of Mor- 
mon. But to the fact itself there are living witnesses, with some of whom 
the writer has conversed. 

There appears to be some uncertainty as to the time of his arrival in Har- 
mony (now Oakland), but it is certain he was here in 1825 and later; and, in 
1829, his operations here were finished, and he had left the county. 

In 1830 the Book of Mormon was published, the requisite funds being fur- 
nished, it is said, by Martin Harris, a coadjutor of Smith during its transla- 
tion, and who had sold his farm for the purpose, and reduced his family to 
straits in consequence. His wife and daughters were greatly exasperated at 
his course, but he appeared to have been a sincere believer, firmly convinced 
of the truth of Mormonism. (Mrs. David Lyons, of Lanesboro, once heard 
Joe's wife speak of Mrs. Harris' complaints to her of the destitution of the 
family.) 

Mr. J. B. Buck narrates the following : — 

"Joe Smith was here lumbering soon after my marriage, which was in 1818, 
some years before he took to ' peeping,' and before diggings were commenced 
under his direction. These were ideas he gained later. The stone which he 
afterwards used was then in the possession of Jack Belcher, of Gibson, who 
obtained it while at Salina, N. Y., engaged in drawing salt. Belcher bought it 
because it was said to be ' a seeing stone.' I have often seen it. It was a green 
stone, with brown, irregular spots on it. It was a little longer than a goose's 
egg, and about the same thickness. When he brought it home and covered it 
with a hat, Belcher's little boy was one of the first to look into the hat, and as 
he did so he said he saw a candle. The second time he looked in he exclaimed, 
' I've found my hatchet!' — (it had been lost two years) — and immediately ran 
for it to the spot shown him through the stone, and it was there. The boy was 
soon beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them hidden things, and he 
succeeded marvellously. Even the wanderings of a lost child were traced by 
him — the distracted parents coming to him three times for directions, and in 
each case finding signs that the child had been in the places he designated, but 
at last it was found starved to death. Joe Smith, conceiving the idea of making 
a fortune through a similar process of ' seeing,' bought the stone of Belcher and 
then began his operations in directing where hidden treasures could be found. 
His first diggings were near Capt. Buck's saw-mill, at Red Rock ; but, because 
his followers broke the rule of silence, 'the enchantment removed the deposits.' " 

The first reference in the county papers to Joe's influence appears to have 
been in November, 1831, and December, 1832, when "two or three wretched 
zealots of Mormonism created much excitement, and made some proselytes in 
a remote district on the borders of this county and Luzerne." The new converts 
then purposed removing to '• the promised land," near Paiuesville, Ohio. 

In December, 1833, Isaac Hale, of Harmony, addressed a letter to D. P. 
Hurlburt, in the State of Ohio, in reply to his application for " a history of facts 

37 



578 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

relating to the character of Joseph Smith, Jr., author of the Book of Mormon, 
called by some the Golden Bible." The Mormons pronounced the letter & forgery, 
and said that Isaac Hale was blind, and could not write his name. This was 
followed by a request from another gentleman of Ohio, that Mr. Hale would 
assist in laying open Mormonism to the world, by drawing up a full narrative 
of the transactions wherein Smith, Jr., was concerned, and attesting the same 
before a magistrate. The result is here given : — 

Statement of Isaac Hale. Affirmed to and subscribed before Ohas. Dimon, 
J. P., March 20, 1834. The good character of Isaac Hale was attested to 
the following day by Judges Wm. Thomson and D. Dimock. 

" I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in November, 1825. He 
was at that time in the employ of a set of men who were called ' money-dig- 
gers,' and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see, by means of 
a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pre- 
tended to discover minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at this time 
was that of a careless young man, not very well educated, and very saucy and 
insolent to his father. Smith and his father, with several other money-diggers, 
boarded at my house while they were employed in digging for a mine that they 
supposed had been opened and worked by the Spaniards many years since. 
Young Smith gave the money-diggers great encouragement at first, but, when 
they had arrived in digging to near the place where he had stated an immense 
treasure would be found, he said the enchantment- was so powerful that he 
could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon after dispersed. This 
took place about the 17th of November, 1825. 

" After these occurrences, young Smith made several visits at my house, and 
at length asked my consent to his marrying my daughter Emma. This I re- 
fused, and gave him my reasons for so doing ; some of which were, that he was 
a stranger, and followed, a business that I could not approve ; he then left the 
place. Not long after this he returned, and, while I was absent from home, 
carried off my daughter into the State of New York, where they were married 
(February, 1826), without my approbation or consent. After they had arrived 
at Palmyra, N. Y., Emma wrote to me inquiring whether she could have her 
property, consisting of clothing, furniture, cows, etc. I replied that her prop- 
erty was safe and at her disposal. In a short time they returned, and subse- 
quently came to the conclusion that they would move out and reside upon a place 
near my residence. Smith stated to me that he had given up what he called 
'glass-looking,' and that he expected and was willing to work hard for a living. 
He made arrangements with my son, Alva Hale, to go to Palmyra, and move his 
(Smith's) furniture, etc., to this place. He then returned to Palmyra, and soon 
after Alva, agreeably to the arrangement, went up and returned with Smith and 
his family. 

" Soon after this I was informed they had brought a wonderful book of plates 
down with them. I was shown a box in which it was said they were contained, 
which had to all appearances been used as a glass box of the common-sized 
window glass. I was allowed to feel the weight of the box, and they gave me 
to understand that the book of plates was then in the box, into which, how- 
ever, I was not allowed to look. I inquired of Joseph Smith, Jr., who was to 
be the first who would be allowed to see the book of plates ? He said it was a 
young child. After this I became dissatisfied, and informed him that if there 
was anything in my house of that description which I could not be allowed to 
see, he must take it away ; if he did not, I was determined to see it. After that 
the plates were said to be hid in the woods. 

"About this time Martin Harris made his appearance upon the stage; and 
Smith began to interpret the characters and hieroglyphics which he said were 
engraven upon the plates, while Harris wrote down the interpretation. . . 
. . . . I told them, then, that I considered the whole of it a delusion, and 
advised them to abandon it. The manner in which he pretended to read and 
interpret was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone 
in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the book of plates was at the same 
time hid in the woods. 



APPENDIX. 579 

" After this Martin Harris went away, and Oliver Cowdry came and wrote for 
Smith while he interpreted as above described. This is the same Oliver Cow- 
dry whose name may be found in the Book of Mormon. Cowdry continued a 
scribe for Smith until the Book of Mormon was completed, as I supposed and 
understood. 

"Joseph Smith, Jr., resided near me for some time after this, and I had a 
good opportunity of becoming acquainted with him, and somewhat acquainted 
with his associates, and I conscientiously believe, from the facts I have detailed, 
and from many other circumstances which I do not deem it necessary to relate, 
that the whole ' Book of Mormon' (so called) is a silly fabrication of falsehood 
and wickedness, got up for speculation, and with a design to dupe the credu- 
lous and unwary, and in order that its fabricators might live upon the spoils 
of those who swallowed the deception. 

"Isaac Hale." 

Alva Hale, son of Isaac, stated that Joseph Smith, Jr., told him that "his 
(Smith's) gift in seeing with a stone and hat, was a gift from God ;" but also 
states, that " Smith told him, at another time, that this peeping was all 

d d nonsense. He (Smith) was deceived himself, but did not intend to 

deceive others; that he intended to quit the business (of peeping) and labor 
for his livelihood." 

Hezekiah McKune stated that, "in conversation with Joseph Smith, Jr., 
he (Smith) said he was nearly equal to Jesus Christ; that he was a prophet 
sent by God to bring in the Jews, and that he was the greatest prophet that 
had ever arisen." 

Joshua McKune stated that he was "acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., 
and Martin Harris, during their residence in Harmony, Pa., and knew them 
to be artful seducers." 

Levi Lewis stated that " he had been acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., 
and Martin Harris, and that he has heard them both say adultery was no 
crime With regard to the plates Smith said, ' God had de- 
ceived him — which was the reason he (Smith) did not show the plates.'" 

Nathaniel C. Lewis stated he "has always resided in the same neighbor- 
hood with Isaac Hale, and knows him to be a man of truth and good judg- 
ment. He further states that he has been acquainted with Joseph Smith, 
Jr., and Martin Harris, and knows them to be lying impostors." 

Sophia Lewis testifies that she "has frequently heard Smith use profane 
language. Has heard him say the book of plates could not be opened under 
penalty of death by any other person but his first-born, which was to be a 
male." 1 

"We certify that we have long been acquainted with Joshua McKune, Heze- 
kiah McKune, Alva Hale, Levi Lewis, Nathaniel C. Lewis, and Sophia Lewis 
[the individuals furnishing the several statements above referred toj, and that 
they are all persons of good moral character, and undoubted truth and veracity. 

"Abraham Du Bois, J. Peace. 
" Jason Wilson, Postmaster. 
" Herbert Leach. 
" Great Bend, Susquehanna Co., Pa., March 20, 1834." 

Many stories respecting Joe Smith are still current, in the localities he fre- 
quented here: — 

"A straggling Indian, who was passing up the Susquehanna, had told of 
buried treasure. Joseph, hearing of this, hunted up the Indian, and induced 
him to reveal the place where it was buried. The Indian told him that a point, 
a certain number of paces due north from the highest point of Turkey Hill, on 
the opposite side of the Susquehanna River, was the place. Joseph now looked 
about for some man of means to engage in the enterprise. He induced a well- 
to-do farmer by the name of Harper, of Harpersville, N. Y., to go in with him. 

1 The child was a girl, and was buried in the graveyard on J. McKune's farm. 



580 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

They commenced digging on what is now the farm of Jacob I. Skinner, in Oak- 
land township. After digging a great hole, that is still to be seen, Harper got 
discouraged, and was about abandoning the enterprise. Joseph now declared 
to Harper that there was an enchantment about the place that was removing the 
treasuie farther off; that Harper must get a perfectly white dog, ] and sprinkle his 
blood over the ground, and that would prevent the enchantment from removing 
the treasure. Search was made all over the country, but no perfectly white 
dog could be found. Joseph said he thought a white sheep would do as well. A 
sheep was killed, and his blood sprinkled as directed. The digging was then 
resumed by Harper. After spending $2000 he utterly refused to go any further. 
Joseph now said that the enchantment had removed all the treasure ; that the 
Almighty was displeased with them for attempting to palm off on Him a white 
sheep for a white dog, and had allowed the enchantment to remove the trea- 
sure. He would sit for hours looking into his hat at the round colored stone, 
and tell of seeing things far away and supernatural. At times he was melan- 
choly and sedate, as often, hilarious and mirthful ; an imaginative enthusiast, 
constitutionally opposed to work, and a general favorite with the ladies. 

" Smith early put on the airs of a prophet, and was in the habit of ' blessing' 
his neighbors' crops for a small consideration. On one occasion a neighbor had 
a piece of corn planted rather late, and on a moist piece of ground, and, feeling 
a little doubtful about its ripening, got Smith to bless it. It happened that that 
was the only piece of corn killed by the frost in the neighborhood. When the 
prophet's attention was called to the matter, he got out of the difficulty by say- 
ing that he made a mistake, and put a curse on the corn instead of a blessing. 
Rather an unneighboi ly act, and paid for, too!" 

Harris came from Coventry, Chenango County, N. Y. [Query. Was he 
not the same Martin Harris who, in 1799, was imprisoned and broke jail at 
Wilkes-Barre ?] 

Joe often told Mrs. D. Lyons of the hidden treasure, and of the "enchant- 
ment" about it, and that it was necessary that one of the company should die 
before the enchantment could be broken. 

After Oliver Harper's death the digging was prosecuted with renewed 
energy. Harper had been efficient in procuring men and means to carry on 
the enterprise, which was not to search for the " plates" from which Joe pre- 
tended to receive revelations, but for reported hidden treasure. 

A belief that money will yet be found as predicted still affects some weak 
characters, and even within the last five years digging has been carried on 
slyly at night on or towards Locust Hill, but not in the same place where 
Joe's believers worked. 

The compiler has herself visited the place where the Book of Mormon was 
prepared for publication. A part of the building forms the rear of the house 
at present occupied by Mrs. Joseph McKune. It was (in Joe's time) close 
by the brook, and had been used by Mr. Hale for dressing deer-skins. Mrs. 
Lyons saw both Smith and Harris there with the manuscript in hand. 

Samuel Brush, of Oakland, often talked with Harris upon the subject of 
the translation ; but, though Mr. B. was often in company with Joe Smith, 
fishing, etc., the latter never referred to it, and "this was after all the dig- 
ging." 

Reference has been made to the difference of opinion in regard to Joe's 
first operations in Susquehanna County. R. C. Doud asserts that in 1822 he 
was employed, with thirteen others, by Oliver Harper, to dig for gold under 
Joe's directions (though the latter was not present at the time), on Joseph 
McKune's land : and that Joe had begun operations the year previous. He 
states that George Harper, a brother of Oliver, had no faith in the enter- 

1 Another version of this is : "To remove the enchantment, Joe's followers killed 
a black dog, in lieu of the desired black ram, and dragged it around and around in 
the pit." 



APPENDIX. 



581 



prise, but tracked the party to Hale's farm. The digging was kept up con- 
stantly ; seven resting and seven at work. 

On the old Indian road from Windsor to Chenango Point, about four miles 
west of Windsor, men were digging, at the same time, for silver, upon Joe's 
telling them where it could be found. Mr. D. further states that he himself 
had no faith at all, but hired out at so much per day, and it was of no conse- 
quence to him whether his employer gaiued his point or not. 

It is said that even Mr. Isaac Hale was at first a little deluded about the 
digging, while he boarded the party. This probably was some time before 
he had met Joe Smith ; as it would appear, that the time referred to by Mrs. 
D. Lyons, was in 1825, when the digging was renewed after Harper's death, 
and Joe himself was present. 

Jacob I. Skinner, son of Jacob (who was twin-brother of Israel Skinner), 
has the deed of the land on which Joe's followers experimented. It is some- 
thing over a quarter of a mile north of the river to "the diggings," up Flat 
Brook. The accompanying diagram will illustrate the relative position of 
the pits. 



mm 




RIVE R ROAD- 



JOK SMITH'S diggings. 

1. Situation of J. I. Skinner's house. 

2. Pit filled and graiu growing over it. 

3. A larger pit filled. 

4. A smaller one partly filled. 

5. A pit that has not been disturbed, in the woods. 

6. Fence. Relative positions only, not exactly proportionate distances, are here given. 



Starting from Susquehanna Depot to reach this place, one crosses the 
bridge and turns to the left following the road nearest the river, which strikes 
the old river road at Shutt's house; then continuing on down until he crosses 
a creek and comes in sight of a school-house, with a grove beyond it, in front 
of which, on the opposite side of the road, is a graveyard. Just above the 
school-house he turns into a road on the right, and follows up "Flat Brook" 
to the farm now owned by J. I. Skinner. From his house a path leads about 
120 yards southeast to the largest excavation, which was also the last one, 
from which proceeds a drain about twelve rods long. 

The sides of the pits were once perpendicular, but one has been wholly 
filled up, and corn is growing over it; another, in addition to the large one 
mentioned, is now partially filled, and the sides in consequence are sloping. 
In the fourth (the one just over the fence), no alteration has been made, ex- 



582 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

cept as cattle have pushed in the surface around it to reach the water which 
gathers there. It is under the trees, the land not having yet been cleared. 

Poor Emma Hale Smith lived long enough to rue her " inquiry into Joe's 
character;" the pretext she gave for leaving home the day she went with him 
to be married. 

(Her mother said to Mrs. D. Lyons, "Don't you think Emma was such a 
goose as to go up to Joe's father's to find out his character?") 

Joe Smith removed to Ohio where he founded a church ; from there the 
" Saints" moved to Independence, Mo.. Smith following them January, 1838. 
From Independence they went to Nauvoo, Illinois, where Smith was impris- 
oned, on a warrant obtained by the owners of the " Expositor" newspaper, 
which had been demolished by Smith's orders. On the 27th of June, 1844, a 
mob of nearly two hundred men broke into the jail and shot Joseph Smith, Jr., 
and Hiram, his brother. 

THE TREADWELL TRIAL. 

[In the early period of the labors of the compiler in preparing a history of 
Susquehanna County, she spent several weeks in condensing the voluminous 
notes of one of Treadwell's counsel, B. T. Case, Esq., and weaving in such 
outside information respecting the case as had come to hand. On account of 
its being the first trial of its kind in the county, it excited an intense inter- 
est, which has scarcely yet disappeared ; but the annals have so grown upon 
her hands as to render compression a necessity, and the repulsiveness of this 
subject, together with the fact of the greater frequency of trials of this kind 
at the present day, may justify its selection for only a passing notice here. 
Should there be any persons who feel an interest to look further into the 
facts of the case, they are welcome to take the fuller account originally pre- 
pared for this work, or perhaps they may find it published hereafter in the 
newspapers of the county.] 

About sunset. May 11th, 1824, the body of Oliver Harper, son of Hon. 
Geo. Harper of Windsor, N. Y., was found lying and streaming with blood in 
the old Harmony road, a mile and a half below Lane's mill (Lanesboro). A 
foul murder had been committed, and suspicion pointed to Jason Treadwell, 
of Harmony (Oakland), or possibly just over the line in Great Bend, as the 
author of the deed. He was arrested and brought to Montrose jail. His 
trial took place Sept. 1-5, 1824, before Judge Herrick, with D. Dimock and 
Wm. Thomson, Associates. He was defended by B. T. Case, Esq., and Hon. 
Horace Williston, late of Athens, Bradford County ; while N. B. Eldred and 
Garrick Mallery, Esqs., were the attorneys on the part of the Commonwealth. 
The evidence daily grew stronger to implicate Treadwell as the murderer; 
and the jury's verdict was, " guilty." Upon his own statement he knew who 
committed the deed ; he lent the rifle to the murderer, gave him provisions 
while lying in the woods two days — the time within which Harper and another 
man were expected to pass with money; received the rifle in a secluded spot 
the evening after the murder, and kept him secreted that night. But until 
he saw his own immediate danger of paying the penalty, he was silent as to 
any knowledge of the murder. 

He was executed Jan. 13, 1825, on the only gallows ever erected in Sus- 
quehanna County. The location was on the west side of the public square, 
nearly in front of the present residence of Dr. Vail. [There is some discrep- 
ancy in the statements respecting this.] The remains were taken to Great 
Bend and interred on the bluff above the 60-feet cut on the Erie Railway, 
between the house of I. Hasbrook and that of the late Isaac Reckhow, Esq. 
He left a widow and seven children. The county newspaper, for two months 
after the execution, contained earnest discussions upon the question of capi- 
tal punishment. 



APPENDIX. 583 

The Hon. H. Williston relied upon his client's protestations of innocence 
until the following incident occurred on the trial : — 

One witness described the disguised person seen in the woods the day Har- 
per was shot, and not far from where he was found dead, as having on a par- 
ticular coat, from which a certain button teas missing. The coat was pro- 
duced, shown to be Treadwell's ; but there was no missing button. The fact 
tended to discredit the witness, and favor Treadwell. As the trial passed 
on Mr. Williston drew the coat towards him, carelessly turned it over so that 
he could see the button alleged to have been missing, and discovered, by the 
thread, etc., that the button had been newly sewed on! A cold conviction 
of Treadwell's guilt passed over his lawyer like an ague chill, as this mute 
fact corroborated the witness. He revealed it to no one then, and but rarely 
in later years. Both 0. N. Worden, Esq. (who furnished the item), and 
Hon. W. J. Turrell, have heard the incident from his own lips. 

The former in a recent statement says : — 

" While in Great Bend village, Mr. Hinsdale, a shoemaker, who saw Tread- 
well hung, stated that his brother received, about twenty years ago, the printed 
confession of a man who was hung near New Orleans, in which the criminal 
stated that he had committed seven murders, but knew of only one man being 
hung for his crimes. That was Treadwell, of Susquehanna County, Pennsyl- 
vania. Both lay in wait for the murdered man One was to shoot first, and if 
his shot was not successful, the other was to shoot next The first shot fell to 
the man named ; his victim fell dead ; and so Treadwell did not have to shoot, 
and did not shoot, although he was in every respect, excepting the first shot, a 
murderer. 

" The name of the criminal who was hung, and the exact time and place, Mr. 
Hinsdale cannot recall ; but having, although young, witnessed T's execution, 
this revelation of the probable accomplice remains clear upon his mind." 

Note to Page 24. — The following letter of Hon. J. W. Chapman is in ex- 
planation of the magnetic variation in running the county line : — 

" Having as county surveyor retraced, and with careful chain-carriers 
remeasured the east line of Susquehanna County, under the direction of our 
county commissioners in August, 1870 — a little over two years ago — I am 
able to give the precise course and distance from personal observation. 

" In doing so I have to correct the survey of Mr. Case in 1827, from whose 
notes the statement is made. Although the very best authority, generally, 
in such matters, Mr. Case reported the whole distance to be six perches less 
than 24 miles to a stone-heap erected on (what he took to be) the State line. 
Charles Avery, Esq., who was one of the commissioners at the time, and now 
the only living man among us who accompanied Mr. Case in 1827, says, they 
built the monument on a marked E. and W. line, which they took to be the State 
line; and it being in the wilderness, several miles from any habitation at the 
time, and late in the last day of the week, and a storm impending, they quit 
without further examination. 

" We found the stone monument according to his measure, but the true 
State line over three-fourths of a mile beyond, proved by tracing it eastward 
120 perches to the sixth mile-stone from the Delaware River, by which the 
exact width of the east end of the county is proved to be 24J miles, aud the 
length only 33 miles and 200 perches, instead of 34 miles, as generally quoted 
' from the sixth to the fortieth mile-stone.' 

" Having some years since measured the west line of this county also (ex- 
cepting the width of Auburn township), I bnoiv it starts from the fortieth 
milestone, and the width must be about 24^ miles at the west end — or h mile 
less than the east end ; and the State line of Pennsylvania and New York 
being due east and west on the forty-second parallel of latitude, we found the 
■present variation of the magnetic needle to be 5|°; the apparent course of 
the State line being 844° E. and N. 84^° W. The present apparent course 
of the east line of the county was found to be N. 3£° E. ; while the true 



584 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

meridian being 5|° therefrom, the real course of the line must be about N. 
2"i°W. 

" This line was originally run for the division between Northampton and 
Northumberland Counties, Wayne County since taken from the former, and 
Luzerne (now Susquehanna) from the latter; and, instead of striking the 
State line at the sixth mile-stone, as generally supposed, it is 120 rods west 
of it. 

"The matter may be more briefly stated thus: Susquehanna County ex- 
tends from 120 perches west of the sixth milestone on the New York State 
line to the fortieth, and is consequently 33| miles in length by about 24J 
miles average width ; the east line being 24f miles precisely, and the west 
about 244j the true polar course of the east line being N. 2|° W. ; and the 
north line due west, embracing an area of about 824 square miles." 

WOMAN'S WORK FOR THE UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. 

MONTROSE AND BRIDGEWATER. 

In Montrose, woman's work for the soldiers of the late war began imme- 
diately upon the formation of the first company of volunteers, April 22, 1861. 
During the ten days which elapsed before its departure for the seat of war, 
trembling fingers prepared lint while hearts ached at the thought, so sud- 
denly forced upon them, of its possible speedy use. To most women, the 
roll of the drum, and the company's drill, were depressing rather than in- 
spiriting; but, since men must meet their country's call, the women of 1861, 
as those of 1776, arose to make them ready. 

Mrs. Judge Jessup had prepared a dinner for sixty volunteers from Sus- 
quehanna Depot, the day the company was organized. 

Mrs. Wm. L. Post procured subscriptions for the purchase of a flag for 
the company, two days later. 

On the 26th, while picking lint, a number of ladies were in consultation at 
Mrs. W. J. Mulford's, in regard to the making of blouses, haversacks, and 
shirts, material for which had been provided. 

April 29th a full meeting was held at Academy Hall, for cutting out and 
arranging the work, which was consigned to committees, and distributed 
throughout the community. The few sewing machines then here were kept 
constantly busy in the work. 

On the 30th at Mrs. B. S. Bentley's, and on May 1st, at Mrs. P. B. Chan- 
dler's, there were large gatherings of the ladies engaged on the shirts and 
blouses, while the young ladies, at Mrs. I. L. Post's, finished eighty-four 
haversacks. Everywhere there was activity and excitement. 

May 2d, 1861, all the preparations were completed, garments and haver- 
sacks having been taken to Judge Jessup's, and, at 11 A. M., the company, 
(Charles Warner, captain,) marched there to receive them. . 

In each haversack, Mrs. Jessup had placed a Testament ; and within each, 
another had slipped a printed card, endorsed by the " Mothers and Sisters of 
Montrose," at one of the meetings of the previous week. It was expressive 
of the spirit in which they began the great work afterward accomplished by 
them, saying to the volunteers, " We regard you as a part of the great 
National Police, to whom we shall owe not only our personal safety, but the 
preservation of the true idea of national self-government." 

From Judge Jessup's house the company marched to the court-house, 
where the flag was presented them, and its acceptance acknowledged in a 
speech by Ira N. Burritt, who has since done his country honored service. 
Pifty-six carriages took the volunteers to the depot. A sadder day had 
never been known in Montrose. Though the enlistment had been only for 
three months, it was expected severe fighting would occur in the mean time, 
but thai this would end the war. On reaching Harrisburg, other measures 



APPENDIX. 585 

were found to prevail, and enlistment for three years being demanded, the 
most of the company returned home by the 11th of May following. Upon 
the organization of Capt. G-. Z. Dimock's company, Sept. 19, 1861, and prior 
to their departure on the 27th of the same month, the ladies of Montrose 
busied themselves in preparing for their comfort. 

In December following, four large boxes were forwarded to the com- 
pany at Beaufort, S. 0. The perilous voyage in the " Winfield Scott," with 
the overtasking.of mind and body it involved to those on board, and particu- 
larly to Company D.. Fiftieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, placed a number of 
the latter on the sick list, and for them a special box was prepared. These 
boxes were gratefully acknowledged, January, 1862. 

Though the U. S. Sanitary Commission was at work ere this, and in Sep- 
tember, '61, had received the endorsement of President Lincoln and General 
Winfield Scott, little was known of it here. 

In July, 1862, just prior to the organization of the Montrose Soldiers' Aid, 
public notice was given that a box would be forwarded, as soon as filled, to 
our sick and wounded soldiers in a Philadelphia hospital. The call was 
promptly met by our citizens generally.. The receipt of this and of a second 
box was gratefully acknowledged six days later. 

July 31, 1862, the ladies of Montrose met and organized a Soldiers' Aid 
Society — the first in Susquehanna County. It orginated in the casual meet- 
ing of four ladies, detained by a shower, in the vestibule of the Baptist church ; 
when one of them, being the wife of a soldier (C. W. Mott), then sick in 
camp, and another, the daughter of a soldier (E. B. Mooney), mentioned the 
receipt of letters from them, which revealed their destitution. Actuated by 
these accounts, the ladies then and there agreed to exert themselves to secure 
the formation of a society for the relief, not only of the soldiers in question, 
but. as far as might be, for that of their suffering comrades wherever they 
could be reached. A number of the ladies of the borough were shortly after- 
wards called upon and requested to meet at Mrs. Mooney's, on the day above 
mentioned; when, as it resulted, the four were joined by perhaps as many 
more. Mrs. Wm. L. Post presided ; and the organization was effected by 
assent to certain rules, making the chief officer, or president, to be chosen 
weekly, that the responsibility might be shared by all. Miss Kate N. Hill 
was elected a permanent secretary and treasurer. 

During the week following, Mrs. J. AV. Chapman and Mrs. Benjamin Case, 
as well as the former, solicited from the community such material as could 
be made available in preparing comforts for the soldiers ; their second meet- 
ing was at Mrs. Post's, and was fully attended. The gentlemen of the place, 
from the outset, encouraged the movement. A lawyer offered a room in his 
office for their accommodation, but, before they had occupied it, Mr. B. R. 
Lyons, having two large rooms over his store, most conveniently fitted up 
for the purpose, tendered their use to the society. Over fifty ladies gathered 
here about the middle of August, 1862 ; and, with varying numbers (often, 
more than fifty), they met here every week for two and a half years, during 
which, Mr. L. did gratuitously everything for their comfort which kindness 
and liberality could devise. He furnished fuel for three winters. During the 
first months, no one was obliged to stay at home, on Soldiers' Aid day, 
because of a storm or of bad walking; the carriage and escort of Hon. M. 
C. Tyler were always in readiness, and often secured an efficient meeting, 
that must otherwise have been a failure. 

The report of the society, from its organization to October 6, 1862, showed 
an income from private cash donations, subscriptions, avails of concert by 
Montrose band, and of the ladies' table at the fair, etc., amounting to 
$274.43. From this $21.23 had been paid to the express company for charges 
on seven boxes. Of these, one was sent to Capt. Dimock, Fredericksburg, 
Md. ; two to Miss Ellen Mitchell, Point Lookout, Md. ; one to Mr. Charles 



586 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Neale, Washington, D. 0. ; two to Quartermaster Gen. Hale, Harrisburg, 
Pa. ; one to Miss E. P. Heberton, Media, Pa. The contents were shirts, 
dressing-gowns, slippers, canned and dried fruit, etc. 

Early attention had been given to drying berries and currants for the use 
of the sick in army hospitals ; but, in the fall of 1862, a call from the Sani- 
tary Commission for dried apples furnished glad work for many neighbor- 
hoods. A circular, entitled, " What they have to do who stay at home," 
issued by the same soon after, was of great service. 

The society had the free use of the columns of the Montrose newspapers, 
and it is but just to refer very much of its efficiency to this fact. 

As winter approached, attention was given to knitting and procuring 
woolen socks for soldiers in actual service. An entertainment was given by 
the society. Christmas eve, at Academy Hall, the avails of which were 
$154.43. Prior receipts from the Odd Fellows and Masonic Lodges, and 
private donations in money and clothing had given abundant means for the 
work in hand ; and, by the close of 1862, the eighth box had been rilled. 
This was forwarded to the Sanitary Commission in New York. The ladies 
were assured that, with one exception, their consignments had reached the 
parties designed ; one box, it is supposed, fell into the enemy's hands. 

About the 1st of January, 1863, the Montrose Aid elected new officers, 
and abrogated the plan of rotation in the office of president ; Mrs. Mary L. 
Wootton was chosen permanently; Mrs. F. B. Chandler, vice-president; 
Mrs. M. C. Tyler, Mrs. Joel D. Lyons, Mrs. I. Vadakin, Mrs. Hugh McCol- 
lum, Mrs. Wm. L. Post, Mrs. Erastus Rogers, Mrs. N. Mitchell, and Mrs. 
Gilbert Warner, on financial and executive committees; Miss Hetty D. 
Biddle, treasurer ; Miss Ellen Searle, secretary ; a new office was resolved 
upon — that of corresponding secretary — and Emily C. Blackman was elected 
to fill it. The first meeting of a Mite Society acting in connection with the 
Aid, was held Jan. 6th, at Mrs. Charles Neale's. 

Not far from this time the ladies of Philadelphia responded favorably to 
an appeal from H. W. Bellows, President of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, 
for uniting the women of that city, "and throughout the Keystone State, in a 
more systematic supply of the wants of the National Soldier, who falls 
wounded or sick in the service of his country." In return the President of 
the Commission addressed to Mrs. Moore, the Corresponding Secretary of 
the organization in Philadelphia, a circular to be communicated to the 
women of our whole State, giving a statement of the facilities enjoyed by the 
Sanitary Commission for doing its work, and its reasons for wishing to con- 
centrate the efforts of individuals and societies then acting independently. 

This circular came to us accompanied by one issued by the Women's 
Pennsylvania Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, and signed by 
Caleb Cope, president and treasurer; R. M. Lewis, secretary; Mrs. M. B. 
Grier, chairman, and Mrs. B. H. Moore, corresponding secretary, with more 
than fifty names on the different committees of the ladies of Philadelphia, 
comprising many of its best citizens. An appeal from them merited and 
received consideration, and particularly as it was based on facts such as 
these : — 

" That the Commission's agents are notified of the time of an army's ad- 
vance, and permitted to transfer their stores to as near the front as possible — 
and that they are the only organization authorized by Government to pass within 
the lines, and administer their supplies on the field of battle for the saving of 
life and the relief of suffering, knowing no difference between men from any 
section who are nobly fighting for the preservation of the Union. 

" The work must be left undone if the women of the land do not keep the 
Sanitary Commission supplied with the means of doing it." 

Then followed a statement of their own organization, and an invitation to 
" every loyal woman" in the city and State, and surrounding counties of other 
States, to co-operate with them. 



APPENDIX. 587 

In response to this, the Soldiers' Aid of Montrose, March, 1863, became 
an auxiliary of the Women's Pennsylvania Branch, by an unanimous vote of 
the Society ; and thereafter were stimulated to a greater degree of activity. 
First, by having a safe and prompt mode of transportation, free of expense 
to ourselves ; thus allowing us to use all our funds for the purchase of ma- 
terial and maintenance of the Society ; and, secondly, by the encouragement 
received through a correspondence with the Commission, as also with the 
ladies of the societies that soon organized in our vicinity. From the Mon- 
trose Aid, an appeal had been issued through the local newspapers, in the 
endeavor to arouse the county to exertion and to a connection with the 
Sanitary Commission. Circulars from the Women's Pennsylvania Branch 
were received by the society, and distributed by letter, and by personal inter- 
view on the street, one public day, when almost every township was repre- 
sented in Montrose. The society's appeal had solicited the correspondence 
that was afterwards so mutually encouraging, and which served to give to 
the societies of the county some unity of method as well as of purpose. 

Still, this would have failed to effect a result commensurate with the 
demand, but for the acceptance, by Miss Sarah M. Walker, of her appoint- 
ment, May 5, 1853, as Associate Manager of the W. P. B. for Susquehanna 
County ; the duties of which post she at once assumed, by correspondence, 
being then in Philadelphia. Upon her return to her "mountain home," she 
made a visit in person to several societies, and in other instances assisted in 
their organization. Her presence and influence were the mainspring in the 
machinery of operations from that time onward. The demands upon her pen, 
so freely met ; the amount of travel and exposure to which she was subjected ; 
the untiring voice of entreaty and encouragement which she gave to the 
work, are facts known throughout the county, and her services were fully 
appreciated by the highest officers of the Commission. But we anticipate. 

In March, 1863, Miss Walker then in Philadelphia, " meeting with the cir- 
culars of the Women's Pennsylvania Branch, became interested in the com- 
pleteness of the system, and sent them to the ' Ladies Aid' in Montrose, 
which resulted in a cordial response of valuable supplies — the very first 
received at the rooms, No. 1307 Chestnut street." Within five mouths three 
dozen boxes had been forwarded by the society to the same destination, 
besides one box to the militia by Major Jessup. The secretary in her 
report of these gave the number of articles (shirts, 254, and other things 
in proportion), but added : " Not having estimated each consignment when 
sent, it is impossible to do it now." 

Our rooms had been witness to exciting scenes through this summer. 
Extra meetings had been called after the Gettysburg battles, and four boxes 
were packed and forwarded within forty-eight hours. When the militia and 
"emergency men" were about to leave, the society, too, was pronounced in 
the public prints 

" Equal to the Emergency. — If our men deserve credit for the promptness with 
which they responded to the call of the Governor, there is no less praise due to 
the ladies who did so much to get them ready. Haversacks for a hundred men 
were to be made and filled with three days' rations, woolen shirts were to be 
made, and a hundred other little conveniences were to be got ready in a few 
hours. The ladies undertook the work, and by the time the company was 
ready to go, everything was ready for them to go with." 

The society had been befriended in the matter of funds. 

The " Emergency Band " gave the avails of a concert, $100 ; the music 
department of the Academy gave another, with just half that result, but 
which permitted the society to give to each of two nurses $25, for the pur- 
chase of such delicacies for the sick as might be wanting in the hospitals. 
A strawberry festival— the berries a donation from J. P. W. Riley, and the 
proceeds of which were nearly $65; a private dramatic entertainment sup- 
plied over $40 ; a still larger sum was given by the citizens; on one occasion 



588 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

$25 from one individual ; $ 15 from another ; $10 at different times from others, 
and many a five dollar note from as many friends were all so many spurs to 
our industry, as well as to procure material upon which to exercise it. 

In August, 1863, at the thanksgiving services, after great Union victories, 
a collection of $25 was taken up and sent to the Christian Commission. 
Several young misses held a fair at the residence of H. Drinker, realizing 
$42.48, which was forwarded to the Sanitary Commission. 

Owing to the departure of the president of the society, Mrs. Wootton, for 
Georgetown, D. C, to take charge as matron of the Volunteer Officers' Hos- 
pital, Mrs. Isaac N. Bullard was elected to fill her place, and it is pleasant 
to record here the unanimous opinion of the society, that we were singularly 
happy in having presiding officers of such energy and faithfulness, and to 
whose excellent judgment very much of our efficiency was due. A tribute 
is fitting here also to the recording secretary, Miss Ellen Searle, of whose 
valuable service we were about this time deprived by her removal to Pitts- 
ton, Pa., where her death occurred, in October, 1867. 

In November, '63, the society sent two barrels valued at $100, to the 
prisoners at Richmond. During this month Miss "Walker responded to the 
request for a report of the Aid Societies of Susquehanna County, from which 
we learn that there were at that time 21 societies. One township had three 
societies, three or more townships sent their contributions to the Montrose 
Aid, and in two instances two townships acted in concert. This, with our 
27 townships, left but few where there was no organized effort. Before the 
close of the year two more societies were added to the list. When this re- 
port was read before the Board of Managers of the W. P. B. of the U~. S. 
San. Com., December 7th, 1863, "it was on motion, resolved, that the secre- 
tary be requested to convey to Miss Walker the thanks and gratification 
of the meeting for the same, and to express through her to the societies of 
the county this appreciation of the noble efforts they are making in behalf of 
the Commission and our great cause." In forwarding this to Miss W., the 
secretary, R. M. Lewis added : '■ It affords me great pleasure to have this 
opportunity to express my cordial wish for the continued increase of your 
work, and to say how much we are indebted for it to your unwearied exertions 
as our associate manager." 

Prior to 1864, the Montrose Aid had forwarded 82 barrels, boxes, and 
firkins, containing supplies for the sick and wounded. More than half of 
them went to the W. P. Branch. 

The Mite Society, Miss Kate E. Searle, sec, continued to hold its meetings 
or "sociables," the avails of which were expended in the relief of absent 
soldiers' families. Thus, undesignedly, the young people imitated the noble 
example of Westmoreland (Wyoming), in 1777, when, at a town meeting, it was 
" voted by this town, that the committee of inspection be empowered to sup- 
ply the sogers' wives and the sogers' widows, and their families, with the 
necessaries of life." — [Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 207.] 

In January, 1864, the societies of the county were represented by Miss 
Walker at the Grand Council of the different branches of the Sanitary Com- 
mission at Washington, D. C. The following month she sent her appeal 
(lithographed) to the Aid Societies in behalf of the Great Central Fair at 
Philadelphia, to swell the receipts of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. Feb- 
ruary 26th, the Montrose Aid held a sanitary fair at the Keystone Hotel, 
realizing about $400. 

April 11th, a meeting of the citizens was held at the Court House, "to 
take into consideration the best method of representing the patriotism and 
ability of Susquehanna County at the great fair, in June next, at Philadel- 
phia." Township committees had been appointed and requested to procure 
subscriptions to the fair; Wm. H. Jessup was appointed to prepare a circular 
for the use of the several committees. The Aid Societies acted as committees 
in all townships where organized. The result was most gratifying. More than 



APPENDIX. 589 

$3000 were contributed by the county, the Montrose Aid collection being 
one-tenth of the amount. Several valuable relics were given up and disposed 
of, that the proceeds might comfort the sufferers of the national army. 

Three or four copies of a large picture of the Fair buildings on Logan 
Square, Phila., drawn from nature, and on stone, and printed in oil colors, 
were presented to the Montrose Aid by the managers of the fair. Total re- 
ceipts of the fair, about $1,200,000. 

During the progress of the fair, a paper was issued by the commission, en- 
titled ' Our Daily Fare.' Miss Walker procured fifty subscriptions for this, 
at $1.00 each. Other ladies in the county served the cause in a similar man- 
ner, but to a less extent. 

In the mean time, the ordinary work of the society was not suspended. The 
fifty-seventh consignment was made to the W. P. B., the day after our box for 
the fair was forwarded. 

Early in August, '64, an urgent appeal came to us, as to all contributing 
to the W. P. B., for blackberry brandy. 

"We are losing," it stated, "lives valuable to home and country for the 
want of this remedial agent. We append a receipt, that no one may be at a 
loss as to the mode of preparing it. What is done must be done quickly. 
Old linen and muslin, and bandages are also needed in large quantities. Hos- 
pitals, crowded with wounded men, are suffering for want of them. Act 
promptly; send largely." 

In response to this, the society sent five boxes of blackberry syrup, in the 
month of August, '64. A dramatic association of ladies and gentlemen of 
the place, assisted by visitors, gave to the society, this month, $150. 

At the suggestion of the associate manager, a call for a county council of 
soldiers' aid societies was made in the fall of 1864. 

The following reports show the response it received : — 

Secretary's Report, October 18, 1864. 

"The Ladies' Aid Societies of Susquehanna County in council, and friends of 
the soldiers, met at the court-house at 2 o'clock P.M., on the 18th inst. Hon. 
Wm, J. Turrell was elected president of the council, and, on taking the chair, 
addressed the meeting with a few well-timed remarks. The following were 
elected vice-presidents : Hon. C. F. Read, B. R. Lyons, M. C. Stewart, Miss 
Sarah Walker, Mrs. L. Hewen, Mrs. Wade, Mrs. Cooley, Mrs. Stanford, Mrs. 
Thomas, and Mrs. M. C. Stewart. Secretaries, Dr. C. C. Halsey, Thomas 
Nicholson, and G. A. Jessup. 

"Miss Sarah Walker, associate manager for Susquehanna County, from her 
list, called on the different societies to report. Reports were made (some at 
length, and tome briefly and verbally) by the following, viz: Montrose, Elk 
Lake, Springville, Lawsville Center, West Herrick, Auburn, West Auburn, 
Jackson, Glenwood, Rush (Eddy), Clifford, Dimock, Bridgewater, West Harford, 
Liberty, Fairdale, and Franklin. 

" Hon. C. F. R aad reported, as chairman of the county committee to the sani- 
tary fair, that over$3000 had been sent to the Central Fair at Philadelphia from 
this county, and Miss Walker added the testimony of one prominent in the 
Sanitary Commission, that the direct supplies thereto from this county had not 
been lessened by this great contribution to the fair, as had been the case in many 
other counties. Mrs. D. Parish, of Philadelphia, made a brief address. Mrs. 
Holsteiu, of the same place, who has for the most of two years labored for the 
Sanitary Commission, and has recently come from the front, made a very in- 
teresting report, and many important suggestions. Said the organization here 
was more complete than in any other county she knew of. She had seen no 
rooms equal to those of the Soldiers' Aid Society in this place. 

" In the evening, Dr. Parish, of Philadelphia, addressed the meeting at length 
— gave a full and very interesting account of the operations of the Commission. 
Rev. Mr. Cather, of Philadelphia, also spoke at length ou the same subject. 



590 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

" Hon. Win. J. Turrell made a brief address. 

" One of the resolutions unanimously adopted by the meeting was this : — 

"Resolved, That we regard the labors of the Sanitary Commission as second 
in importance only to the actual service of the soldiers in the field, and that 
our confidence in its efficiency increases more and more as we become thoroughly 
acquainted with its operations. 

" Dr. Halsey, secretary of the Council, at a later date, reported : — 

" A few societies were unable to report by reason of the loose manner in which 
their accounts had been kept. Deaths, sickness, and removals are the reasons, 
in some cases, of imperfect reports. A large number sent in complete returns 
containing lists of all articles forwarded, with estimated cash value, while 
some sent complete lists, with cash value of only a part, or the cash value of 
all that had been done, with only a partial list of articles. Some have only a 
list of articles, and others only the cash value. 

"Montrose, Harford, Uniondale, Franklin, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of 
Mary, Rush, Forest Lake, Friendsville and Forest Lake, West Harford, Laws- 
ville, Center, Dimock (two societies), Friendsville, West Auburn, Clifford, 
Springville, Auburn, East Bridgewater, and Little Meadows aid societies have 
sent to the Sanitary Commission, 1247 shirts, 174 sheets, 588 pair drawers, 720 
pillows, 755 pillowcases, 212 arm slings, 291 dressing gowns, 247 pairs slippers, 
342 pairs socks, 1913 towels and handkerchiefs, 126 quilts and blankets, 295 
bottles of wine, 71 gallons of wine, 1 keg of wine, 1 cask of wine, 28 gallons 
syrup, 507 cans of fruit, 2709 pounds of dried fruit of all kinds, 13J bushels 
dried fruit, 273 packages dried fruit, 31£ firkins of pickles, 100 pounds of but- 
ter, 5 tubs of butter, 1 firkin of butter, 50 pounds maple sugar, 1125 cakes 
maple sugar, 173A dozen eggs, 1 keg eggs, 16 coats, 64 hop pillows, 2 pairs shoes, 
3£ bushels apples, 10 quarts vinegar, 12 cans honey, 14 cans sundries, 11 
bushels potatoes, 110 needle-books, etc., 61 pads, 1 sack dried corn, 8 quarts 
dried corn, 12 pounds horseradish, 17 pounds corn starch, 32 pounds cheese, 6 
pairs mittens, 4 pairs pants, 110 lemons, 300 and more packages of unenumerated 
articles. 

" Large quantities of bandages, lint, old cloth, reading matter, dried beef, sage, 
hops, fruit, combs, jelly, tea, green currants, pie plant, currant shrub, raspberry 
and elderberry vinegar, peaches, pears, eggs, beans, etc., are reported, of which 
no exact account can be given. 

"Great Bend, Glenwood, Elk Lake, Brooklyn, Upsonville, and Jackson Aid 
Societies report estimated cash value of articles sent at $943.62; donation 
from Welsh citizens, $200; sent to central fair articles valued at over $3000; 
making considerably more than $4000 in addition to the foregoing list of 
articles. 

" West Auburn and several other societies that were struggling to keep up the 
good work acknowledge, with thanks, $10 donations for their encouragement 
from unknown friends, by hand of Miss S. M. Walker. 

"Mrs. Grier, of Philadelphia, wrote to the associate manager, 'I am so de- 
lighted with the report and summary you have sent ! It is, indeed, most 
gratifying and full of encouragement to earnest, faithful workers, as showing 
them, through you, what fidelity, and perseverance, and faith can accomplish. 
1 feel like saying, ' Hurr.th for Susquehanna County!' I have been so worn 
out this summer and fall that such thiugs refresh me.' " 

The thanksgiving collection, November, 1864, and a second supper, given 
at the Keystone Hotel in December, so replenished the treasury of the Mont- 
rose Aid, that, notwithstanding the large expenditures of the year, there was 
a good balance on hand. 

The following, prepared by Mrs. Webb, is a summary report for each year 
of the society, from its organization to the close of 1864. 

The receipts of the society for the year 1862 were . . $446 19 
Expenditures for the same year ...... 259 21 

Leaving balance of ....... $186 98 

Miss Kate Hill, Treasurer. 



APPENDIX. 591 

The receipts for the year 1863 were : — 

Balance from last treasurer . . . . . . $186 98 

Received from society . . . •'.-'• • • • 461 88 

$648 86 
Expenditures for the same year ...... 412 87 

$235 99 
Miss Hetty D. Biddle, Treasurer. 

Receipts for the year 1864 were : — 

Balance from last treasurer . . . . . . . $ 235 99 

Received from the society ....... 1272 72 



$1508 71 
Expenditures for the same year ...... 1351 29 

Balance . . . $ 157 42 

Tot d receipts $2180 79 

Expenditures 2023 37— $157 42 

Mks. H. J. Webb, Treasurer. 

It must be understood that Bridgewater had no separate organization from 
the Montrose Aid until late in 1864. 

Hitherto little has been said of difficulties encountered by the Montrose 
Aid, and, in contrast with those known in scattered neighborhoods, they had 
none ; but at least one difficulty they had in common. This arose from the 
often repeated stories derogatory to the San. Com. Respecting these, Mr. 
Knapp, special Relief Agent of the San. Com. at Washington, wrote : — 

" At times the supplies at our store-houses in Washington have been very short, 
and some of the demands for the hospitals could not be met ; but as a general 
thing nineteen-twentieths of all the real needs which come within their proper 
province to supply, have been met. 

" A great many requisitions are made upon the charity of the people, through 
the Sanitary Commission, for supplies that can and ought to be obtained from 
the Government, and it is made an especial duty of our hospital visitors to en- 
deavor to insure to the patients such supplies through that legitimate channel, 
rather than by distributing of the Sanitary stores. I inclose to you a list 
furnished me direct from the books kept at the store-house of the Commission, 
of articles given out by the agents of the Commission in Judiciary Square Hos- 
pital (where it is stated that little or nothing was furnished) during the four 
months prior to December 1st, 1864. You will perceive that of wool shirts, there 
are nearly 400 ; wool drawers, 230; socks, 251 ; towels and handkerchiefs to- 
gether, over 500 ; blackberry wine, 95 bottles. These were distributed in small 
quantities from week to week, to meet real needs, although at times more would 
have been issued and wisely had the stock on hand been larger. 

" Our hospital visitors endeavor, each one in his or her own assigned hospitals, 
to go through all the wards at least once" each week, and learn the needs, and 
so far as is right supply them. These hospital visitors are all, I believe, con- 
scientious, earnest men or women, doing their work with thoroughness, and with 
no dainty hands — visiting the bedsides of the men themselves and ministering to 
them. None of the agents referred to keep bouse in the city — but all board, 
with one exception, at the simplest tables with the ordinary accommodations. 
That one, for good reasons, boards at a hotel. 

" With one exception, also, the vehicles used by these agents in visiting the 
hospitals, and conveying the supplies, are simply covered wagons — one horse and 
wagon being assigned to a visitor who attends to three or four hospitals. For 
that one person, excepted for good reasons (connected with the work of visiting 
with other hospitals, the post hospitals, and the hospitals of various forts at 
long distances from each other), two horses and a comfortable carriage are pro- 
vided." 



592 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Extracts from Mrs. Grier's letter to Miss Walker : — 

"The Sanitary Commission in every city is composed of the very best and 
wisest men who could be selected for an important trust : such men as dying 
fathers trust their children and fortunes to. In Philadelphia we have no more 
honored names than those who compose our Ex. Com. of gentlemen. You 
know of them yourself. It is the same in New York and Bo-ton. The Com- 
mission itself is composed of men known for character and intellect all over the 
country. I ask these doubters whether they think it likely such men would 
lend themselves to establish a great fraud, or even to cover it if it had crept 
into an institution without their knowledge ? Why, their very honored names 
are at stake in the fair fame of the Sanitary Commission. It is impossible, too, 
that anything really wrong should go long undiscovered if it were caused by 
minor officials. Think of the constant system of checks and guards kept upon 
the employees of the Commission. 

" For instance in our office, I am certain it would be utterly impossible for 
roguery to go undiscovered for a week. I know the general work of the Com. is 
so conducted. Then think of the watching people all the time on the lookout 
for mismanagement of the trust they have reposed in the institution. The 
Christian Commission is also a first-rate police force to see that the Sanitary 
does no wrong." 

The same month the Montrose Aid were in receipt of a letter from Miss 
Ellen Mitchell, in which she says: "The Sanitary have adopted anew plan 
of distributing their stores in the hospitals around Washington. And with 
what they are doing - for us at present, and the manner of doing it, I am satis- 
fied entirely." 

The last year of the war, and the closing up of the work of the U. S. San. 
Commission, found the Montrose Aid faithful to the last. 

After having had the use of Mr. Lyons' rooms two and a half years, we 
were offered the pleasant parlor of the engine house, No. 1, by the Rough 
and Ready Company, upon the former being needed for another purpose. 

The first meeting at the engine house was held March 2, '65, during a 
severe snow-storm, which, however, did not prevent a large number from 
being in attendance, or keep away the indefatigable Associate Manager, who 
rode ten miles to meet us and return. Four barrels were packed that day 
for the W. P. B. The young misses of the place contributed patchwork 
ready for quilting with a text of scripture written on each block, for hospital 
reading. 

In May, a box of Syrian curiosities, valued at $100, and a box containing 
small blocks from the ancient cedars of Lebanon, valued at $50, were sent 
to the Northwestern Pair at Chicago ; and the society received in return a 
handsome silk flag, now in the keeping of the compiler. The total receipts of 
that fair were $325,000. 

May 15th, the several branches and societies of the Sanitary Commission 
were requested by the President, Dr. Bellows, to maintain their usual system 
and activity up to the 4th of July following. The last regular meeting of the 
Montrose Soldiers' Aid occurred on the Thursday previous to the latter date. 
The following summary of consignments by the society was then given by 
the secretary : 

"Forwarded in 1862-3, 82 bbls. — Ellen Searle, Recording Secretary. 
1864, 48 bbls.— Maggie Baldwin, Recording Secretary. 1865, 22 bbls. — Mrs. 
H. C. Tyler, Recording Secretary. Total 152 bbls. 

One hundred and three of these bbls. were sent to the Sanitary Commis- 
sion, 5 bbls. of unenumerated articles to the American Union Commission, 
for Refugees, 2 bbls. to our prisoners in Richmond, and 42 bbls. were dis- 
tributed promiscuously." 

[This statement does not include the donation sent to Chicago.] 

The ladies proposed to give a dinner, on the 4th of July, to all the returned 
soldiers in the county who might accept the invitation ; but finding them- 
selves unequal to the labor requisite, they consented to give the enterprise 



APPENDIX. „ 593 

into the citizens' hands, accompanied by $100 from their treasury. At the 
dinner, the members of the society waited upon the tables, happy in having 
their labors culminate in rendering "honor to whom honor" is due. 

By request the Treasurer submitted the following summary report of the Mont- 
rose Soldiers' Aid, from its commencement, in July, '62, to its close, in October, 
1865: 

Total receipts in cash $2505 22. 

Mrs. H. J. Webb, Treasurer. 

Recording Secietary''s Report. — The Recording Secretary also gives the follow- 
ing report of consignments from the Montrose Soldiers' Aid since its organiza- 
tion, jn July, 1862, to October. 1865. The following articles were forwarded: 
808 shirts, 452 prs. drawers, 181 dressing-gowns, 142 prs. slippers, 328 prs. socks, 
360 pillows, 365 cases, 61 sheets, 7 prs. mittens, 951 towels and handkerchiefs, 
33 quilts and blankets, 332 housewives, 12 prs. pants, 17 collars, 9 vests, 4 
coats, 324 cans of fruit, 830 boxes dried fruit, 91 gallons wine, 325 bottles wine, 
3 boxes blackberry cordial, 4^ bbls. green apples, 5^ bbls. potatoes, 1 cask cider 
apple-sauce, 35 firkins pickles, 1 barrel pickles. 

The value of these articles is estimated at $4345.83. Many valuable pack- 
ages which were sent cannot be fully estimated. Of these are corn-starch, 
tapioca, gelatin, maple sugar, soap, catsup, dried corn, canned chicken, horse- 
radish, apples, leather, mustard, farina, raisins, packages of lint, linen and 
bandages. 

We feel that the above estimate is lacking by some hundreds of dollars the 
value of the articles sent. 

Maggie Baldwin, Secretary. 

In the fall of 1865, friends in Montrose and vicinity sent $40 to the fair 
for the Soldiers' Home in Philadelphia. Packages both to the Home and 
the Lodge were forwarded about the same time. 

In 1866, a barrel and a box of supplies for the Thanksgiving dinner of the 
disabled soldiers of the Home were sent from Dimock, Bridgewater, and Mont- 
rose, which were so thankfully acknowledged, that the same parties have 
contributed, every succeeding fall, more or less liberally for the same purpose ; 
all the packing has been done at the residence of G. V. Bentley. 

Apolacon Township, 
little meadows. 

The society at Little Meadows was the second Soldiers' Aid in the county, 
the date of its organization being September 17, 1862. Other neighborhoods, 
such as Upsonville and West Harford, contributed comforts to our soidiers 
as early, and perhaps earlier; but no society was then formed in those places, 
and permanent work was not anticipated. 

At Little Meadows the ladies enlisted " for the war," and served, as an 
organization, the full term of their enlistment; though the corps of fifteen, 
engaged during the first year, was reduced the last year to five, and conse- 
quently the amount of labor accomplished was greatly diminished. 

The borough of Little Meadows, so remote from the center of the county, 
and bordering on the State line, is allied by business to Owego, rather than 
Montrose, and the volunteers of the Union Army from that section were, for 
the most part, connected with the 109th Regiment N. Y. S. V. 

The ladies of the Aid Society were, as a general thing, represented in the 
army by members of their own households, for whom they were laboring 
directly, thus diminishing their work through the Sanitary Commission. 

The officers of the society were: Miss Mary Barney, President, and Mrs. 
Adda Louise Beardslee, Secretary and Treasurer. 

For the first six months their stores were sent to the U. S. Sanitary Com- 
mission at Washington ; but in May, 1863, they made their first consignment 
to the Women's Pennsylvania Branch at Philadelphia, and thereafter were 

38 



594 .HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

confident of a wise disposal of their contributions. The clothing forwarded 
was principally of new material. The following is from a letter to the secre- 
tary :— 

" I do not believe you are aware how well Susquehanna County is doing, and 
I think it quite right to appeal to your county pride by way of stimulating and 
encouraging you. I believe we have more Aid Societies in Bucks and Susque- 
hanna than in any other counties 

" I am, very truly yours, 

"M. C. Griek, 
" Chairman Executive Com. U. S. S. C." 

A Festival and Concert at Little Meadows, held under the auspices of the 
Aid Society, and aided by volunteer musical talent from Owego, yielded a 
fund of upwards of $125. The borough contributed over $60 in cash and 
articles of value to the Great Central Fair. The number of boxes forwarded 
to the Commission is not given, but from the number of articles we can 
specify enough to show something of the industry of the society. Over six 
hundred garments, including bedding, were made ; over two hundred pounds 
of dried berries and currants, twelve bushels of dried apples, eight and a half 
gallons of blackberry cordial, one barrel of cucumbers, three firkins of 
pickles, one box of onions, one box of lemons, potatoes and tomatoes in 
quantity, and a variety of smaller packages for hospital and field use were 
sent; and, with donations to the Grand Central Fair and for "Special Re- 
lief," were too moderately estimated at 



A Soldiers' Aid Society was formed at Dimock Corners, October 7, 1862. 
A box soon filled, and valued at $37, was sent to the Sanitary Commission 
at Philadelphia. Nothing more was accomplished until after the reorgani- 
zation of the society and its connection with the W, P. B., July, 1863, when 
a new impetus was given to its efforts by Miss Walker and friends and 
the efficient officers— Mrs. Lyman Blakeslee, President ; Mrs. Mason Ting- 
ley, Treasurer ; Miss Fannie Woodruff, Secretary. 

Their labors were continued to the close of the war, with a total result of 
consignments (including the above) of five barrels and four boxes of sanitary 
stores, two firkins of pickles, two tubs of butter, and a cask of blackberry 
wine. The estimates of two barrels and two boxes are not given; the re- 
mainder were valued at $206.68. The society was always small, there being 
two other societies within the limits of the township. Perhaps no contribu- 
tor was more active than an aged lady — Miss Sarah Babcock — whose knit- 
ting-needles were kept steadily at work ; the avails sometimes found their 
way to the Montrose Aid, without waiting for the less frequent consignments 
from Dimock. She died at the latter place a few years afterwards, aged 
nearly 84 years. She was born in Westerly, R. I. ; came to this county in 
1812, and was one of the constituent members of the Dimock Baptist church. 

In August, 1863, the following report of the Elk Lake Society was given 
by the corresponding secretary: — 

"The Elk Ladies' Aid Society was organized November 5th, 1862. There 
were twelve ladies present, who proceeded to elect a president, secretary, trea- 
surer, and a committee of three ladies to solicit contributions. As we had no 
funds, it was 'resolved that the society commence work by each member fur- 
nishing such articles of necessary clothing as can be spared from our own 
houses ; that we meet one afternoon each week to repair such articles until we 
■can obtain new material; also, that each member pay to the treasurer the sum 
of three cents per month, to be used for the purchasing of thread, tapes, but- 
tons, etc., for our work.' Any one, however, was at liberty to pay more. The 
average number of ladies in regular attendance until May 1st, 1863, did not 
exceed seven." 



APPENDIX. 595 

"During the winter we filled one box with dried fruit, butter, new flannel 
shirts, woolen shirts, slippers, dressing-gowns, towels, handkerchiefs, and many 
other useful articles. It was sent to Washington, D. C, in charge of Miss Clara 
Barton, from Massachusetts. We have, since the first of May, filled two bar- 
rels and one box with clothing, pillows, quilts, lint, bandages, and delicacies, 
which have been sent to the Women's Pennsylvania Branch, Philadelphia." 

By the 18th October, 1864, the Elk Lake Society had contributed, in- 
cluding donatious to the fair at Philadelphia, very nearly $500, for the benefit 
of suffering soldiers. The average number of working members was but five 
the second year ; for, though at times the neighborhood was well repre- 
sented, far oftener only three ladies met for work. But there is abundant 
evidence that they were not idle in their homes, in the immense quantities of 
dried fruit prepared for the society, the liberal quantities of butter and cheese 
(106 lbs. of the latter), and other articles of home manufacture. 

The meetings of the society were frequently enlivened by the presence of 
the associate manager for the county, or encouraged by her letters in her 
absence. " It is a source of satisfaction that not only our county, but that 
our own township should be so well represented in the Women's Council at 
Washington," wrote the secretary in reference to Miss Walker, and added, 
"Every hour that I work for our brave soldiers, every garment I cut and 
make, every sock I knit, and every delicacy I prepare, increases my interest 
in the Sanitary Commission." 

About this time the society seemed to increase in popularity, also in 
means, and for several weeks the meetings were well attended. " I make it 
a rule," wrote the president of the society, " to read something from the docu- 
ments sent me every week, also the letters I receive from Philadelphia." 
Here it may be stated, that the correspondence of all the societies with the 
secretaries of the commission was a source of comfort and strength not to be 
forgotten by us. A oneness of feeling with all who labored in the same 
humane and patriotic cause was one of the blessed outgrowths of the work- 
ing of soldiers' aid societies everywhere. Denominational differences were 
lost sight of, and, in politics, the only question was of loyalty to the Union. 

The officers of the Elk Lake Society were : Mrs. Denison Thomas, pres. 
and cor. sec. ; Mrs. George Young, vice-pres. ; Miss Harriet Stevens, 
treas., and Misses Mary E. Young and Sally Stevens, rec. secretaries. 

The receipts of an oyster supper given by the society were $85. This, in 
a farming district where the inhabitants are scattered, indicated a general 
interest in the cause. Still, reports prejudicial to the Commission found their 
way here, and proved one of the severest trials of the society. Their cash 
receipts in all amounted to $112. From November, 1864, to the close of 
operations, July, 1866, six valuable boxes were filled and forwarded, which, 
even at the moderate estimate of the donors, added to former supplies, made 
the total value of their consignments not a whit behind those of Little Mea- 
dows, or about six hundred dollars. The list below is too much condensed 
to fully represent the results of the organization. It is from the pen of the 
corresponding secretary : — 

We submit the following report from the Elk Lake Aid Society since its or- 
ganization, November 5th, 1862, to the present time, July, 1865. Forwarded 
16 boxes, 4 barrels, and 6 firkins, containing 33 shirts, 53 pairs socks, 32 pairs 
slippers, 7 dressing gowns, 144 handkerchiefs, 27 towels, 73 pillow-cases, 6 
quilts, 2 bed-spreads, 14 pairs drawers, 25 needlebooks, 30 ration bags, 6 sheets 
several pairs mittens, 100 fans, a large quantity of dried, canned, and pickled 
fruit, blackberry cordial, scrappel, potatoes, dried corn, horse-radish, dried herbs 
lint, bandages, old linen and cotton, reading matter, etc. etc. We have re- 
ceived efficient aid from Auburn Four Corners and also from Rush. 

[We notice the omission of pilloivs, of which quite a number were sent, 
and one pair deserves special mention — it was filled with rose leaves— the 



596 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

fragrance of which was not sweeter than the love that contributed the gift. 
Mothers who had given their sons, their bravest and their best, and mourned 
them fallen in the service of their country, alleviated their grief by laboring 
for the sons of others, then suffering in hospitals or exposed to the perils of 
the field of strife.] 

John Young kindly gave the society the use of a room, which two or 
three of the ladies furnished pleasantly. One gentleman supplied a stove ; 
another the most of the fuel ; and receipts in money from many of the gen- 
tlemen enabled the ladies to purchase material for their work. Even small 
boys rendered efficient aid in various ways. 

SOUTH DIMOCK. 

The members of this society, previous to their organization, contributed 
to the two other societies of the township. 

Its officers were Mrs. George Blakeslee, president; Miss C. J. Newton, 
secretary; and Mrs. E. C. Miles, treasurer. The cash receipts, including 
$10 per Miss Walker from the fund entrusted to her, were but $43.42. 

The meetings were held every Tuesday, at Mrs. Wm. Miles'. 

The society consisted of but ten members; but they were able to report, 
November, 1864, having filled two boxes for the W. P. B., valued at about 



It is not known that any regular organization was ever effected by the 
ladies of Harmony; but there is evidence that their hands furnished sup- 
plies for the comfort of the Union's defenders. Mrs. Amanda Lyons was 
successful, during the first year of the war, in filling a large box, which was 
sent to Washington. Considerably later, Mrs. David Taylor forwarded a box 
to the Sanitary Commission, via Montrose Aid. 

It is not probable this comprises all the effort made; but no further record 
has been given ; as, also, in 

OAKLAND, 

where, as early as the summer of 1862, rumors reached us from Susquehanna 
Depot of work accomplished in getting off supplies. for sufferers from the 
battle of Bull Run ; but no definite report was ever made of it. No organiza- 
tion of the ladies was ever effected, so far as known to the associate manager 
for the coun.ty. 

GREAT BEND. 

The records of effort here are wanting in several particulars. The first 
box consisted of private contributions, valued at $35. It was sent to Wash- 
ington after the first battle. The Presbyterian Society, Mrs. F. D. B. Chase, 
secretary, sent a box, valued at $50, to the Washington Hospital : the Young 
People's Society sent two boxes to the same amount. At a late period, Great 
Bend became auxiliary to the Sanitary Commission at Philadelphia, and sent 
two barrels and one box of supplies, besides one box, valued at $100, for the 
central fair. These contributions, with a few dollars in cash from one or two 
parties, amounted to $325. 

This, however, seems a meager statement of what was actually done at 
Great Bend for the soldiers ; but societies appear to have been discouraged 
because of injurious reports respecting the misappropriation of supplies, 
and because some of their donations were never heard from after being for- 
warded. Agents for different commissions obtained frequent contributions 
from the place. 



APPENDIX. 597 



When it became a settled fact that the war would not be ended in 1861, 
the citizens of Susquehanna County quickly anticipated the needs of the 
army for the winter. It is believed that townships, in which no aid societies 
were afterwards in operation, were then active in forwarding supplies. Har- 
ford began early, and continued late in the good work in the face of strong 
opposition. 

At a meeting held Oct. 28, 1861, at which Dexter Sibley was chairman, 
and E. T. Tiffany, secretary, it was ''Resolved, To send aid to soldiers in 
the field to make them comfortable during the winter." 

The committee appointed to carry out this resolution were, Tyler Brewster, 
Shippard Carpenter, Mrs. B. Wartrous, Mrs. A. Abel, and Mrs. H. Spear- 
beck. Their efforts resulted in filling a box containing socks, mittens and 
nightcaps, to the value of $100, which was forwarded to Captain Gates' 
Company of Fourth Pennsylvania Reserves. 

In July, 1862, two large boxes containing hospital stores of considerable 
value were sent to Washington. No account is given of any further move- 
ment until July 22, 1863. when the Ladies' Aid Society was organized by 
the election of Mrs. Joab Tyler, president, Miss Lucina Farrar, vice-presi- 
dent, Miss M. M. Edwards, secretary, Mrs. C. S. Johnson, treasurer, and 
Miss Melissa A. Tiffany, corresponding secretary. The society became 
auxiliary to the Women's Pennsylvania Branch of the Sanitary Commission, 
and two days later sent its first consignment: 1 bbl dried apples, 110 lbs., 
and 1 box of berries, 75 lbs. At this time there were 33 members enrolled, 
but the number of contributors were more than 100, and thus they were able, 
Aug. 31st following, to send another box of dried fruit, and one of cloth- 
ing, etc. 

Within a fortnight these were followed by a barrel of eggs (50 doz.), and 
a firkin of butter, and, before the close of September, a tub of butter (55 
lbs.), additional. Dec. 16, 1863, the ladies were ready with another valuable 
box of clothing, bedding, etc., and a box of dried fruit (30 lbs. apples, 20 
lbs. currants and berries) with 6 bottles of wine and jelly. The record thus 
far, ranks Harford next to Montrose in the number of consignments ; but the 
year 1864 was one of discouragement to the society, whose only effort appears 
to have been made in connection with the Sanitary Fair at Philadelphia, to 
which it forwarded 

Supplies to the amount of ...... $100 00 

And, in addition, cash ....... 50 00 

$150 00 



27 30 



The collection on Thanksgiving-day, sent to the Christian Commis- 
sion 

The three boxes filled prior to the organization of the society . . 205 00 
The contributions to the Sanitary prior to Jan. 1865, estimated at . 217 10 

Total amounting to $600 00 

Besides this, the citizens throughout the township sent 1100 lbs. of edibles 
for the soldiers' Thanksgiving dinner, 1864, among which were 1 tub of but- 
ter, 1 bbl. of apples, in all 5 or 6 boxes. 

In the fall of 1864, on the resignation of former officers, Mrs. Peck was 
named as president, and Mrs. Whitney, treasurer. After replenishing the 
treasury from the avails of an oyster supper, in January following, and with 
$10 from Miss Walker's fund, the ladies filled one more box with clothing, 
dried fruit, etc., and forwarded it to the W. P. B., Feb. 22, 1865. 

Probably two dozen boxes, barrels, and tubs constituted the total con- 
signments, containing at least 56 pairs drawers, 45 shirts, 40 pairs socks, 
quantities of old cotton and reading matter, and small packages, besides 249 
lbs. dried apples, 165 lbs. berries, and about 3 gallons blackberry cordial. 



598 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



WEST HARFORD. 

The ladies comprising afterwards the West Harford Aid (Mrs. Alvin 
Stearns, president, Mrs. Tyler Brewster, secretary), sent to a hospital in 
Philadelphia, sometime in 1862, 1 firkin of butter, 1 keg of eggs, and a box 
containing over 50 pillows and cases, 36 pounds of dried berries and cur- 
rants, old muslin, towels, etc. 

In 1863 and '64 they contributed many valuable articles to the Aid 
Societies of Brooklyn and Montrose, among which were 3 bushels of dried 
apples, 15 pounds of dried berries, 10 pillows and cases, 10 towels, hop pil- 
lows, socks, mittens, 4 flannel shirts, and some other large garments. 

From June, 1864, the ladies made their consignments independently, 
sending first, one box to Central Fair, Philadelphia, containing 1 quilt, 
towels, pillows, housewives, etc., valued at $25.35. Also, 2 barrels of pota- 
toes, and a box of eggs. (Many contributions in township report were from 
this section.) 

September, 1864, 1 box, containing 20 pounds of dried berries and 35 
pounds of dried apples, and three kegs of pickles were sent to the W. P. 
Branch. A barrel of sauer kraut (44 gallons) was afterwards forwarded, 
and January, 1865, the ladies were engaged in making up into shirts and 
drawers the flannel purchased with $10 received per Miss Walker. Total 
estimate about $185. 

FRANKLIN. . 

No. 1. The ladies of Upsonville forwarded a box, as early as October, 
1862, to the Sanitary Commission at Philadelphia 

The contents valued at $35 00 

Cash, Dec, 1862 12 00 

One box to Sanitary Fair, 1864, valued at 17 00 

Cash 12 10 

One box to Sanitary Commission, at Philadelphia, September, 1864, 

valued at 34 00 

One firkin of pickles 5 00 

Cash sent to the Christian Commission 12 00 



Total $127 10 

It is not stated when an organization was effected, but it is believed to 
be not earlier than that of the foregoing societies. The president was Mrs. 
O. M. Hall. She received from Mrs. Plitt, secretary of the W. P. B. for 
this section, an acknowledgment of the box sent in September, 1864, in 
which she said : — 

"Your box was unpacked yesterday, and every article found to be useful 
and of the best quality. Everything will be disposed of as you requested." 
Such words as these sustained the courage of the societies all over the 
county. 

The secretary of the Upsonville Aid, Mrs. Mary A. Ward, was the widow 
of a soldier wounded at Gettysburg, and whom she had nursed for two 
weeks in the hospital just before his death. It was from such scenes that 
desolated hearts turned to the work of relieving the sufferings of those still 
languishing in hospitals. 

No. 2. — The Franklin Aid Society had not been thoroughly organized prior 
to a visit of the associate manager for the county, in November, 1863, but 
the ladies of the township had already accomplished something in the way 
of sending supplies, as is seen by the report of the Upsonville Aid, and by 
the acknowledgments of the secretary of the society at Montrose. 



APPENDIX. 599 

"The visit of the associate manager referred to resulted in a meeting at the 
Baptist church. Sausage-making, and all the after-work of butchering, was 
readily laid aside, but the work of some was brought along ; the mother of 
eleven children had the eleventh in her arms, a babe of eleven months, and a 
quiet one at that ; so, business was undisturbed. Suggestions were made and 
canvassed, and the result was the unanimous vote of the Franklin ladies pre- 
sent, to exert themselves anew for the relief of sick and wouuded soldiers, and 
to combine their efforts by a systematic organization. Officers pro tern, were 
appointed, and the day for their first meeting, Thursday, the 19th inst. Here, 
too, the services of the stronger sex were not wanting to give the revived so- 
ciety a cash basis, which, if not large, still showed generous giving." 

The Sanitary Commission department of the Saturday Evening Post, in 
copying a printed notice of this organization, said : — 

" We must add an interesting incident that occurred at this meeting, and 
which reached us through a private source. A woman arose and said, ' I wish 
to tell you what the Sanitary Commission did for me. It saved the life of my 
only son, and sent him home to me with warm clothing on, which bore the 
stamp of the Commission.' 

" If we mistake not, this unsolicited, simple testimony was of more benefit 
to our cause there than any argument could have been." 

Pursuant to the appointment made at the church the ladies of Franklin 
met, and elected Mrs. D. H. Blowers, president ; Mrs. Henry Beebe, vice- 
president; Mrs. Edwin Summers, treasurer; and Miss Jennie H. Lane, 
secretary. 

By the last of December, 1863, they had forwarded to the W. P. B. one 
barrel of supplies, and, by the last of April, 1864, another, containing bed- 
ding, clothing, dried fruit, etc. 

After these consignments were made, little appears to have been done until 
after the reception of $10 from Miss Walker's fund. In acknowledging it 
the secretary adds : — 

" We are much encouraged thereby. Last Sabbath, at the close of our ser- 
vices, the congregation were told of the gift with which to resume our labors for 
the soldiers, and were asked to aid also. They responded by giving us nearly 
$20. We met yesterday (Nov. 25, 1864), and elected our officers, and are going 
to work with new energy and zeal, we hope. Our place of meeting is at the 
church." 

Mrs. Mahala Pierson, president; Mrs Charlotte Stockholm, vice-presi- 
dent; Mrs. James Fisk, treasurer; and Jennie H. Lane, secretary (as be- 
fore). 

The contributions of this society were estimated to be at least $72.35. 

NEW MILFORD. 

As early, probably, as the spring of 1863, something was done by the 
ladies of New Milford, but no report has reached us of the result, except that 
by September of that year one box had been sent to the W. P. B., and they 
had held a festival, from which they realized $48. A reorganization is men- 
tioned as having then been made ; but, not expecting ever to render any ac- 
count of it, no note was taken. "Their intention was good," writes one of 
their contributors; "their sole aim and object being to provide something 
for the aid and comfort of suffering humanity." 

Their meetings were held at the houses of members (six or eight only) 
each Wednesday afternoon. Their officers, six in number, were relieved of 
their duties each month, except the treasurer and secretary, who were elected 
permanently. No name is given except that of the latter officer, Miss Mary 
W. Bowers. The society were in receipt of $89 upon their reorganization. 

It is not probable this "talent" was "hid in a napkin;" but the compiler 



600 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

has no clue to what it really "gained." No aid from the associate manager 
was accepted, as had been the case with many other societies ; and, proba- 
bly, on account of the fact that the ladies seemed desirous to send their sup- 
plies directly to Miss E. Mitchell, of their acquaintance, who was then en- 
gaged in hospital work ; thus severing for a time, at least, their connection 
with W. P. Branch, represented by Miss Walker. 

By March 27th, 1865, " 2 boxes of eatables and a keg of pickles" had been 
forwarded to Miss M., and clothing was soon to follow. At this date, Mrs. 
Ellen Whitlock was president. 

BROOKLYN. 

No. 1. — The first Aid Society was organized July, 1863. Mrs. Lydia 0. 
Adams, though in feeble health, missed but one meeting while they were held. 
Mrs. Geo. Chapman was also untiring. D. S. Watrous was secretary. 

The fourth box of hospital stores was forwarded December 22, 1863. [The 
ladies of this section, prior to their organization, had contributed liberally 
to the Montrose Aid.] Feb. 22, 1864, they sent 40 lbs. butter, a quantity of 
socks, dried fruit, etc. 

No estimate at the time was made of these five boxes; they were worth, 
with the $7 cash sent with the last, probably $250. Much was done in the 
way of private individual donations, such as stamps, envelopes, socks, and hand- 
kerchiefs to friends in the army. These were in almost every corps and divi- 
sion. '• We are looking many ways, and trying to pray and encourage them 
all." wrote one of the society. 

" In response to the call for supplies for the soldiers, and for contributions to 
the Great Central Fair, the members of the Methodist and Presbyterian congre- 
gations of Brooklyn assembled at the Presbyterian church, May 21th, and con- 
tributed and sent to Philadelphia the following articles : One large box of dried, 
canned, and preserved fruits, jellies, wines, and other hospital stores ; two kegs 
of pickles ; one tub of butter containing 84 lbs., with $11 cash. They also sent 
to the Children's Department of the Fair a box of fancy articles, maple sugar, 
and other gifts of the children. The value of the whole was estimated at $126. 

"M. A. Adams, 
" Chairman of Committee." 

Total estimates of official consignments about $375. 

No. 2. — In April, 1864, the ladies of the Universalist denomination with- 
drew from the former society, and organized with Mrs. L. F. Porter, presi- 
dent; Mrs. Obadiah Bailey, treasurer; Mrs. E. S. Kent, secretary. The 
first organization declined in consequence. The second sent to the Sanitary 
Commission, in 1864, cash $55, a box of stores of equal amount, and eight 
barrels of apples, worth $20. March 17, 1865, the avails'of a festival held at 
Mr. Wm. Craver's, $105 ; and April 18, $139 cash in addition, swelled the 
total contributions of this society to $374 at least. Total from Brooklyn 
Aids, $749. 

CHOCONUT. 

The Sisters of the Convent at St. Joseph's, under the supervision of Mother 
Mary Philomena, filled two boxes in 1863 and 1864 with delicacies and old 
linen, and forwarded them to the Sanitary Commission. They had no society 
organized. [In the report forwarded to the general secretary after the war, 
the copyist wrote " bbls." for "bottles," thus giving undue value to choice, 
but comparatively small contributions.] 

Other ladies of Choconut were liberal contributors of cash, delicacies, and 
clothing, through the societies of Friendsville and Montrose. 



APPENDIX. 601 



SPRINGVILLE. 

The ladies of Springville began their work by holding an ice-cream fes- 
tival, on Thursday evening, May 21st, 1863, with the avails of which they 
were encouraged the next Monday evening, May 25th, to organize a sol- 
dier's aid society. Its first officers were: Mrs. Albert A. Root, pres. ; 
Miss Philena L. Meacham, treas. ; Miss E. Ursula Scott, secretary; with 
an executive committee of three — Mrs. Edward B. Scott, Mrs. E. H. Culver, 
and Miss Juliette Smith — for the first month. 

Contributions began to flow in ; but, to accommodate distant friends of the 
society, three officers were gratuitously furnished, by the gentlemen of the 
place, with horse and wagon for a collecting tour, from which they returned 
with supplies more than sufficient to fill the first box, which was sent to the 
W. P. B. (to which the society became auxiliary, June 25th, '63), on, the 3d 
of July following. Bedding and delicacies for the sick were the principal 
contents, and it is interesting to note how these were procured. Ladies parted 
with part-worn dress skirts (no small sacrifice when dry goods were at maxi- 
mum prices) for the linings of bed quilts, others brought carded wool for their 
manufacture, and still others sent patchwork and thread. Some sent feathers 
for pillows, others striped linen for ticks, and others cases for them ; one 
lady gave sugar for making cordial, another the brandy, another, " the jug to 
put it in." As a rule, in all the societies, the spirits used were paid for from 
the treasury. 

By the 29th of July another box was filled and forwarded to Philadelphia ; 
its contents being shirts, drawers, double-gowns, towels, &c, in addition to 
bedding and delicacies. It is but just to mention in this connection, that 
not only for Springville, but for most of the other societies, the boxes and 
barrels, used for packing, were generally the gift of the merchants; and, as a 
rule (though there were exceptions, as in Auburn,) consignments were carried 
free of charge to the nearest depSt, the Commission paying freight by rail- 
road. 

In December, 1863, M. H. Smith, who was Miss Scott's successor as secre- 
tary, made the first published report of the society, in which she stated : — 

" The loyal ladies of Springville have been silent, heretofore, but they have not 
been, the while, inactive. They have been, with their sisters from Maine to 
Minnesota — 

' Plying the busy fingers 
O'er the vestments old,' 

for the relief of that noble band of brothers, who have been stricken in defence 
of their loved native land. This society has sent four boxes of sanitary stores 
to the Commission at Philadelphia." 

Over one hundred dollars had been received by the treasurer, to the same 
date, including the avails of a supper given by the ladies in December. The 
next noted addition to their funds was made July 4th, 1864: the net pro- 
ceeds of a festival, then held, amounted to $215 77. An address was made 
on this occasion by Hon. B. Parke, LL. D. By the treasurer's report, July 
1865, we learn that the total amount of money received was $385.69. 

The society consisted of twenty members. They prepared the following 
contributions : — 

48 double-gowns, 24 bed-quilts, 63 shirts, 35 prs. drawers, 28 prs. slippers, 
26 prs. socks, 25 pillows with 25 slips, 1 sheet, 20 linen towels, 20 pads, 143 
handkerchiefs, 4 part-worn coats and vests, 4 boxes of lint, besides large 
quantities of old linen, cotton and bandages, with an amount of reading 
matter. 30j gallons of blackberry brandy and wine, 14; gallons "rated horse- 
radish, 3J- gallons pickles, 1 bottle raspberry vinegar, 3 bottles currant-shrub, 
11 jars, cans, etc., of jelly, and 2 cans honey, and 140 lbs. of dried fruit. 

Society No. 2. — The ladies of Lynn had met from time to time, after the 



602 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

call came for help for suffering soldiers; and, without electing officers, had 
prepared one box and one barrel, containing quilts, wrappers, dried-fruit, 
etc., and forwarded them to the Sanitary Commission, during the fall of 
1863. On the 2d of December following, they duly organized, Miss E. 
Knapp, president, Mrs. 0. Fish, treasurer, Miss Nettie Brown, collector, 
and Mrs. E. M. Phillips, secretary. Their meetings were held every Tuesday 
afternoon and evening. 

June, 1864, they sent $14.60 to the Philadelphia Fair. Their labors as a 
society continued through the summer, but their numbers were small, and 
they reported their progress "very slow;" but a box, filled with bedding, 
dried fruit, etc. (no particulars given), was made ready before the cold weather 
set in, when it was difficult for those living at a distance to attend, and the 
" Mite Meetings" were the only ones held through the winter. The receipts 
from these, added to $10 received per Miss Walker, gave them a fund a little 
over $21. An estimate of the total value of the consignments made by the 
society appears too low. being only $75. But, in any case, it would not fully 
represent the labors of this section, contributions being sometimes sent to 
other societies. In 1864, the residents sent $16 to the Montrose Aid, which, 
according to the wish of the donors, was forwarded to the Christian Com- 
mission. 



The first Soldiers' Aid Society was organized June, 1863, at New Lacey- 
ville, or West Auburn. Its officers were Mrs. John C. Lacey, president and 
treasurer; Mrs. John R. Lacey, secretary; and Mrs. Miles C. Lacey, corre- 
sponding secretary. 

Few in numbers at all times, this society was yet vigorous, having at its 
head one of an indomitable and patriotic spirit. Before the organization of 
what was afterwards known as the Auburn Aid, contributions were received 
from distant portions of the township ; but the resources of the society were 
soon limited to a small circle in the vicinity of the Tuscarora. 

The cash receipts, previous to October, '63, were but $32; but, with this 
capital, willing and industrious hands contrived to send to the Sanitary Com- 
mission three boxes filled with clothing, bedding, dried fruit, rhubarb wine, 
and other delicacies, and one firkin of cucumber pickles. A special call for 
the latter was made by the Commission about this time, and was promptly 
responded to by all the aid societies of the county. Sauerkraut, and kin- 
dred articles were thought to be preventive of scurvy, which, at that time, 
was infecting the soldiers in many places. Most gladly did persons of 
limited means devote portions of their gardens, the following season, to the 
culture of cucumbers and cabbages. There was even rejoicing whenever 
there was work for the soldiers which permitted children to have a share in 
it. They could pull weeds, pick lint and berries (though, after the first sea- 
son, old linen was called for instead of lint), make scrapdjooks, patch bed- 
quilts, make and sell book-marks, etc., etc. Indeed, we may justly attribute 
the preservation of the life of many a soldier to the efforts of the little black- 
berry pickers in this county. 

Before the 1st of November, 1864, the West Auburn society had collected 
and forwarded to the W. P. B. of the Sanitary Commission, 160 lbs. dried 
fruit, 2 gallons of blackberry syrup, 3 gallons of rhubarb wine, 2 bottles black- 
berry cordial, 1 bottle raspberry vinegar, 6 quarts dried sweet corn, 1 firkin 
pickles, 1 keg pickled cabbage, and 1 keg of apple-butter; besides making 
and contributing 34 shirts, 18 pairs drawers, 12 pillows and 18 cases, 16 arm- 
slings and pads, 1 dozen handkerchiefs, 3 towels, 5 pairs socks, 2 pairs sheets, 
1 quilt, and 15 lbs. of cloth for dressings. 

A pleasant feature of the work among the aid societies, was the occasional 
interchange of visits to their meetings, for mutual encouragement and cheer. 
In August, 1863, the secretary and the corresponding secretary of the Mont- 



APPENDIX. 603 

rose Aid were privileged to visit that of West Auburn. The earnestness and 
zeal exhibited by the ladies there was refreshing, and gave a zest to the twenty- 
eight miles of travel not soon forgotten. 

In November, 1864, the funds of the society, almost entirely exhausted, 
were replenished through that dispensed by the associate manager, and, with 
fresh courage, the ladies continued their work, which had had some draw- 
backs, among these being a missent package ; and disbanded only with the 
return of peace. 

Society No. 2. — At a meeting of the citizens of Auburn, held at the Burch 
school-house, July 7, 1863, a soldiers' aid society was organized, and the fol- 
lowing officers elected: president, Mrs. D. J. Ranb; secretary, Mrs. H. J. 
Crawford; treasurer, Mrs. James Bunnel ; executive committee, Mrs. B. A. 
Edwards, Miss M. A. Newman, Miss Henrietta Kinney, Miss I. P. Sterling, 
and Mrs. Job Green. 

Within the first month, the new society were in receipt of $25, only three- 
fifths of which were expended in preparing the first consignment, which con- 
sisted principally of dried fruit, pillows, and part-worn shirts, for hospital use, 
and the box was forwarded, without delay, to the W. P. B. The Gettysburg 
battles developed more freely the sympathies and energies of persons who 
had previously thought theirs taxed to the utmost ; and the result was seen 
in the rapid increase of aid societies in efficient action. 

Two or three months later, the Auburn society forwarded another box, the 
contents of which were very valuable, the garments being of new material, 
made up by the ladies, whose treasury had been replenished by the addition 
of more than $100. 

In April, 1864, guided by a circular received from Philadelphia, the society 
was reorganized, with Mrs. Daniel Cooley for president; Mrs. David Raub, 
Mrs. A. M. Sturdevant, Mrs. Charles Crawford, Mrs. Job Green, and Mrs. 
William Overfield, for vice-presidents (Mrs. Quinby afterwards supplying a 
vacancy) ; Mrs. John G. Taylor, secretary and treasurer. 

To those acquainted with the residents of Auburn, it will be perceived that 
the officers of the society were widely separated, and, in fact, a large territory 
— not less than eight square miles — was covered by the society. But each 
vice-president served as a nucleus of influence in her particular locality, and 
the result gives proof of the efficiency of the plan adopted. 

The following was the final report of the secretary and treasurer. 

"The Auburn Soldiers' Aid forwarded to the U. S. S. C. (W. P. B.) 98 new 
muslin shirts, 16 part worn shirts. 15 new flannel shirts, 57 pairs drawers, 97 
pairs slippers, 68 pairs drawers, 96 pillows, 100 pairs pillow cases, 16 dressing 
gowns, 22 sheets, 30 towels, 43 handkerchiefs, 9 arm slings, 3 pairs pads, 3 pairs 
pants, 45 fans, 3 linen coats, 330 lbs. dried fruit of different kinds, 11 bottles 
blackberry cordial, 9 bottles elderberry cordial, 7 bottles catsup, 8 bottles horse- 
radish, 2U cans fruit, 12 tumblers jelly, 2 cans honey, 5 papers corn starch, 12 
combs, a large quantity of bandages, 2 bbls. cotton and linen, containing SO lbs. 
each, 20 lbs. butter, 1 tub butter, 2 firkins pickles in vinegar, 1 keg wine, con- 
taining 10 gallons, also, beans, onions, dried corn, sage, hops, vinegar, wine, 
etc., etc. 

" Treasurer's Report. 

"Sum total received $950 93 

"Expenses 950 93" 

Of their receipts, they paid the last $20 for clothing for the widows aud 
orphans of the soldiers. 

During the summer of 1864, the "little folks" of Shannon Hill were at 
work under the title of the Alert Society, and contributed -i a very nice patch- 
work quilt" to the aid society. About this time, Springville, and Clapper 
Hill, Bradford Co., contributed more or less to the supplies sent from Auburn. 

An oyster supper, given at the house of Mr. Lott, Auburn Center, put 



604 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

nearly $50 into the treasury; indeed, throughout the county, oysters were 
of great use in furnishing means to enable the ladies to carry on their work". 
The secretary, in making up her report, adds : "Our efforts have been 
attended with great inconvenience, and we have been called upon to make 
much sacrifice many times, from the fact that our society is very much scat- 
tered." And, with reference to the Montrose Aid: "I felt almost discour- 
aged after I was at your rooms, and saw how much easier you could do a great 
deal than we could a little." This is quoted in order to exhibit in a stronger 
light, not the little but the much accomplished by those in farming commu- 
nities, where rough roads and distance were formidable obstacles, but where 
their warm and generous hearts in the cause were strong enough to overcome 
them. But when the battles were over, their efforts relaxed, as did those of 
many others, while a few societies continued their work to the 4th of July 
following. 

FOREST LAKE. 

In response to the urgent solicitation of Miss S. M. Walker, July 6, 1863, 
the Misses Matilda and Miriam J. Wright consented to exert themselves to 
form a Soldiers' Aid Society in Forest Lake, and so faithfully did they fulfil 
their promise, that a society of twenty members was in successful operation 
two weeks later, the organization having been made July 11, when the sisters 
engaged to serve respectively as president and secretary. The latter wrote 
on the 20th of the same month to the associate manager: — 

" Two barrels are nearly filled and will be ready to send this week, with a 
tub of butter. We intend to go on with the work, in which much interest is 
manifested throughout the community." 

So successfully was this intention carried out, that the work went on until 
late in the summer of 1865. 

Though up to October 9, 1863, only $9.85 had been paid into the treasury 
(with which the ladies bought cotton cloth and made shirts, sheets, and pillow- 
cases.) they had managed to send articles amounting in value to $56.64,' be- 
sides about a barrel and a half of dried fruit, which, being sent in different con- 
signments and not weighed, was not estimated, nor was a tub of pickles; had 
these been properly appraised, better justice could now be done in comparing 
the results of the society's efforts with that of others. Still, this was a com- 
mon practice ; they looked more to see that proper articles were promptly for- 
warded than to reckon up the amount of the same. It was not until the aid 
societies were urged by the Commission to place estimates upon their consign- 
ments, that due attention was paid to the matter. 

The interest taken by the community in general seemed somewhat to flag 
by the end of the first three months of the society's existence ; still they met 
once in two weeks. It should have been stated before, that their labors for 
the benefit of the soldiers had begun long before their organization, their sup- 
plies being forwarded as a part of those of the Montrose Aid, to which at first 
most of the townships were tributary. 

In 1864, the Forest Lake Society, in common with others, was in receipt 
of ten dollars per Miss Walker ; and by a collection taken up at an evening 
meeting, and by private contribution, they were able to expend nearly $25 in 
the purchase of flannel, which was made into shirts and drawers. 

"There are enough ready hands to work," wrote the secretary, "if they 
only have the material ;" and this expressed the condition of the societies 
everywhere at that time. The women could not do enough to give vent to 
their excitement, or to their sympathy with the state of their country and its 
loyal army ; though war in itself was repugnant to each and every one of 
them. 

1 "Three tubs" are acknowledged from this society during October. 1863, in 
the Sanitary Commission Department of the ' Saturday Evening Post.' 



APPENDIX. 605 

The Great Central Fair at Philadelphia, June, 1864, received from the 
Forest Lake Society about $30, including $7 cash, a package of fancy articles 
worth $7, 1 barrel of potatoes, and 1 tub of butter. 

From the beginning to the close of their work, the ladies received in all 
some cents less than $70. Of this sum $28.29 were private contributions, 
and $11 02 a thanksgiving collection ; $10 from the Taylor Hollow Society, 
and the balance was given them " to double ;" which it may be safely said 
they did. From the whole amount ($70) they made twenty-seven consign- 
ments to the commission, viz., 11 barrels (3 of clothing and fruit), 5 boxes 
ditto, 5 tubs of butter, 1 tub and 1 firkin of pickles, 1 keg of fruit and 1 of 
onions, with 2 packages worth $12.40, besides the cash donation to the fair. 

Surely, in view of Miss Walker's solicitation, we may say, " A word spoken 
in due season, how good is it !" 

In the summer of 1864, the ladies in the vicinity of Birchardsville, in the town- 
ship of Forest Lake, contributed for the benefit of sick and wounded soldiers 
two boxes and one barrel of clothing and delicacies ; but they had no organi- 
zation. 

In the fall of 1864, at Taylor Hollow, Miss Carrie L. Vail exerted herself 
to interest the ladies near the southern line of the township in organizing an 
aid society, of which she was made the president ; Miss Mary Taylor, vice- 
president ; Misses Maria A. Vail and Cynthia T. Carr, secretaries. When 
they began their work (which was before their organization) they expected 
only to fill one box, but after becoming interested and united, they anticipated 
permanent effort ; but the failing health of the president of the society obliged 
her to relinquish her labors after the third consignment in three months, and 
the other members not choosing to assume responsibility, confided their fund, 
$10 (per Miss Walker), to the society near the Lake. 

FRIENDSVILLE AND FOREST LAKE SOCIETY. 

The township of Middletown had no aid society, and Mrs. J. C. Morris, 
then residing there, interested herself early in July, 1863, in engaging Mrs. 
Dr. N. Y. Leet, and other ladies of Friendsville, to unite with those of the 
northwestern part of Forest Lake, to form an organization in behalf of suffer- 
ing soldiers. They responded promptly, and July 20, 1863, they elected the 
following officers: Mrs. Fred. Hollister, pres. ; Mrs. E. S. Hosford, treas. ; 
Mrs. Martha D. Leet, sec. Mrs. James Stone and others on Stone Street 
were actively interested. " The society organized with becoming spirit, but 
sickness checked their operations," and but three consignments are mentioned, 
of which the estimates given in Dr. C. C. Halsey's report for the county were 
$134.10. But in the 'Saturday Evening Post,' in whicli the commission 
made its acknowledgments at first, the Friendsville Aid is credited for four 
barrels in October, 1863. These probably included one sent from Lakeside, 
Choconut, the contents of which are not given. The others contained bed- 
ding, clothing, etc., and fruit. Of the last there were 117 pounds; currant 
jelly, 39 pounds ; canned strawberrries, 7 pounds ; tea, 1 pound ; and 1 half 
barrel pickles also given. 

This society sent $18 to the Grand Central Fair. 

FRIENDSVILLE AID. 

A distinct organization was formed by the ladies of Friendsville, in January, 
1864, with the following officers : Mrs. Nelson Griffis, president ; Miss Mattie 
Brainard, treasurer ; and Mrs. F. Foster, secretary and corresponding sec- 
retary. These, with four or five other members, comprised the society, and 
the secretary in making her report, August 9, 1864, wrote of "many disad- 
vantages," adding, " but I trust that even the little we are able to do, may, in 
the hands of our noble Sanitary Commission, be productive of much good." 
At that time it appears that at least one barrel had been filled and forwarded, 



606 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

as she says: " We send another barrel this week, and are doing all in our 
power to prepare a large quantity of fruit." That this effort was successful, 
is seen in the fact that they sent 12 pounds of currants dried in sugar, besides 
24 pounds of other kinds of dried fruit, and 6 gallons of blackberry wine, with 
7 cans of blackberries and cherries. Of bedding and clothing they sent 12 
quilts and comfortables, 20 feather pillows, and 2 hop pillows with cases, 4 
sheets, 2 dressing-gowns, 11 pairs socks, 3 shirts, 1 pair drawers, 1G pads and 
arm-slings, 8 handkerchiefs, 1 pair slippers, lint, old linen and muslin. They 
sent the Grand Central Fair articles valued at $50. Total estimate, $141.30. 
Here as elsewhere the workers were represented in the army, and some of 
these, alas, by prisoners of war, one of whom "died at Audersonville." 
The ladies of Choconut were contributors to this society. 

CLIFFORD. 

At Clifford Corners an aid society of twenty-five members was organized, 
July 30, 1863, Mrs. Doctor Gardner, president ; Mrs. M. C. Stewart, secre- 
tary ; Miss Amanda M.Wells, corresponding secretary; Miss R. L. Hal- 
stead, treasurer (succeeded by Miss Persis K. Stevens). Two committees 
were appointed, one on supplies (changed every month), and another perma- 
nent (Mrs. William Johnson and Mrs. William Lott), on packing. They 
agreed to work three hours each week, either at home or at the society 
meeting. At the second meeting, thirty-three ladies were present. The sec- 
retary, writing of this meeting to the associate manager, said : — 

" They all seem to commence the work with energy, and a determination to 
do something for the cause we have so long neglected. We have for sometime 
felt it to be our duty to do something for our suffering soldiers, but, knowing 
the loss and misuse of articles sent by private boxes, we have remained inac- 
tive. But your timely letters and papers have opened a way for us, and we 
feel under great obligations to you for giving us the opportunity of throwing in 
our mite for the holy cause." 

This letter being shown to the committee in Philadelphia, it was published 
in the Sanitary Commission Department of the ' Saturday Evening Post,' and 
the editor added: " We shall watch with peculiar interest the progress of 
the Clifford Aid." This was certainly a stimulus to exertion, and the ladies 
nobly met the apparent requisition. Within the first two months their num- 
ber enrolled was nearly fifty. Within the year they had forty meetings, and 
made ten consignments to the Sanitary Commission : — 

4 barrels and 4 boxes valued at . . . ■ $297 06 

1 tub butter 10 00 

1 box to the Grand Central Fair (including 1125 

cakes maple sugar) ...... 131 29 

Making a total result for first year of $438 35 

On reorganizing the second year at Mrs. C. D. Wil- 
son's (twenty-two ladies present), it was agreed to 
meet once a fortnight, with a five cents fine for ab- 
sence. Twenty-five meetings were held, and the 
whole value of articles sent was .... 335 98 

Total of sixteen consignments . . . $774 33 

(In these were included 12 gallons blackberry brandy, $48; three boxes 
clothing etc., 1 cask and 1 firkin of pickles.) 

The secretary wrote again, expressing a sentiment common to all the 
societies : " Oh, it is sweet to think that perhaps even our feeble efforts have 
saved one life, and made one home glad that would otherwise have been 
desolate." 



APPENDIX. 607 

There were but fifteen members at the close of the work, but their record 
would not shame a larger number. 

A festival, a young people's exhibition, and a refreshment stand, had fur- 
nished funds additional to collections made by the society. To these must 
also be added $11, per Miss Walker; it was on the reception of $10 of this 
that the secretary wrote her : " It came just in the right time and in the right 
way, to give us a new impetus in the right direction, as your favors always 
do ;" and this statement will be indorsed by the societies of the whole 
county. 

Among the results of the industry of this society, in the absence of a full 
statement, we give: " 243 pounds dried fruit, 50 cans of fruit, 72 arm-slings, 
83 shirts, 47 drawers, 7 quilts," and smaller articles in proportion. 



Kumors early reached the associate manager of the interest taken by some 
of the ladies of Ararat in supplying suffering soldiers with comforts and deli- 
cacies, and she promptly communicated with Mrs. Mary Kingsbury Tyler, 
who was known to have been one of the number. Her reply stated briefly 
the effort made in Ararat, jointly and individually, and added: — 

" The reason that we have not formed a separate organization, is on account 
of the fewness and feebleness of our numbers. There are some here who will 
keep on doing to the best of their ability as long as there are suffering soldiers 
to aid." 

In November, 1864, she wrote : — 

" The number of those who would lend a helping hand has been sadly reduced 
by death and removals, and I find if anything is done it will be by the personal 
exertions of one or two females in the decline of life. My age (within a few 
weeks of seventy) and feeble health prevent my doing as much as I could wish. 
I have felt that whenever I could knit a pair of socks, or furnish a pair of pil- 
low-cases, they should not wait when aid societies were all around us." 

A month later : — 

"The money kindly furnished by you was expended in buying material to 
work up, and on the day appointed, quite a number of ladies met here and made 
or nearly made it up. Most of them brought something besides, and some dis- 
played commendable liberality, but did not conclude it was best to organize a 
society." 

In other districts there was no organization from causes not dissimilar to 
those that operated in Ararat. Here, in addition, should be mentioned the 
bad state of the roads in winter, which prevented frequent meetings even 
had there been a larger number interested in the work. But to show that 
earnest hearts overcame difficulties — having the spirit if not the letter of an 
aid society — the following is quoted from Mrs. Tyler's report: — 

" During the first year of the war, a box was sent from liere weighing nearly 
four hundred pounds. In it were fifty pairs of socks, also pillows, cushions, 
pillow-cases, sheets, bedquilts, wrappers, drawers, etc. I would say that some 
individuals from Thomson contributed some articles for which they should be 
credited, but I cannot tell how much. No accounts were kept. After that Mrs. 
E. B. Wilson (the wife of our pastor) collected clothing, dried fruit, etc., per- 
haps to the amount of $20, and sent to the Soldiers' Aid at Montrose. 

" In the autumn of 1864, we furnished a small box (with aid from the asso- 
ciate manager) valued at about $30, something over, I think. In the spring of 
1865, with further assistance from her, and with something gained by an oyster 
supper, we sent $25 to the Commission at Philadelphia. In June, following, 
my daughter-in-law and myself sent $7 more. There have been a, few individual 
donations in money ; I cannot say how much. Our large box was sent to Wash- 
ington, the other to the W. P. Branch." 



608 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Total estimate of boxes and other donations, as per Dr. Halsey's report, 

$282. 



The reports of soldiers who had returned from hospitals where no gratui- 
tous aid had been furnished, probably discouraged effort in Thomson. The 
contribution to the Ararat box is all that has been reported. 



At the foot of the eastern slope of Elk Mountain, a society was organized 
through the personal solicitation of Miss Walker, in the summer of 1864; Mrs. 
Thomas Burns, president, and the Misses Jennie A. and Orpha B. Dart, 
secretaries. The two sisters had two brothers in the army — one of them a 
prisoner, as they afterwards learned, at Andersonville, where he died the 
same season. It is not singular, then, that they " needed no second appeal 
to work for our poor suffering ones." Others united with them, perhaps a 
dozen attending on an average the meetings of the society. The treasury is 
reported as being " generally empty ;" still, a box was filled and forwarded 
to the W. P. B. in August, 1864, by means of a very praiseworthy species 
of barter, where dairy farmers could more easily bring butter than cash, and 
the contributions made by them were paid to the merchant for muslin, etc., 
to be made into garments for hospital use. 

In the fall of 1864, the receipt of $10, per Miss Walker, gave the West 
Herrick Society the means, six weeks later, to send a box principally of dried 
fruit and delicacies, valued at $27.84, and a firkin of pickles. The reception 
of these was promptly acknowledged by Mrs. Plitt, of the W. P. B., who 
added : — 

" I think Susquehanna will be the baiiDer county in her efforts to relieve the 
sufferings of our soldiers in this hated rebellion. She never tires. Her loyal 
women are always on the alert, always doing, always giving." 

The Welsh citizens of Herrick, Clifford, and Gibson contributed liberally 
to societies in these townships, but no aid society was established by them 
as a community ; this, among those accustomed to work as a distinctive body, 
is another mark of the delightful oneness of feeling that characterized co- 
workers for the Sanitary. 

UNIONDALE. 

September, 1863, the ladies in the southeast corner of Herrick contributed 
generously to a box sent from Montrose. In the fall of 1S64, the Uniondale 
Aid Society reported, Mrs. M. A. Arnold, president and treasurer ; Mrs. 
D. D. Reynolds, secretary, and Mrs. M. Dimmick, Mrs. S. Miller, and Mrs. 
L. Coleman, solicitors. 

They contributed at least one box of bedding, clothing, and dried fruit, 
valued at $32, and $7.50 cash, which was returned to them, with $10 from 
Miss Walker's fund, to be doubled. The total estimate is given at $54.70. 

Through the winter, storms and bad walking made meetings of the society 
impracticable, but the secretary wrote, "The little we can do we will do, 
thanking God we are permitted to labor in so worthy a cause." 



Before a soldiers' aid was organized here, contributions to the value of $75 
to $85 had been forwarded for the comfort of soldiers. The first regular 
meeting was held August 1, 1863. During the next ten or eleven months, 
the society, small in the beginning and growing smaller, still were able to send 
to the W. P. B. four barrels, three of them filled with fruit, wine, bedding, 
and clothing ; one with vegetables. 



APPENDIX. 609 

An ice-cream and strawberry festival was held at the hotel in Jackson, on 
the afternoon and evening of the fourth of July, 1864, the net proceeds of 
which were $105. Of this sum the society appear to have made good use 
within the remaining ten months of their organization, as the total amount of 
consignments for the. benefit of soldiers is given thus : eight barrels, one box 
of canned fruit, one keg of strawberry wine, one keg of blackberry syrup, one. 
tub of butter— the whole valued at $313.82. The members of the society were 
separated by distance and met only once in two weeks, and sometimes not 
as often. The- officers were: Mrs. James A. Bingham, president ; Mrs. S. 
M. Foster, corresponding secretary; Miss Jane Nason, recordiug secre- 
tary; Mrs. G. W. Slaysman, and Mrs. E. Tucker, treasurers in succession. 

The North Jackson Aid Society, Mrs. P. Hall, secretary, is incidentally 
mentioned by the secretary of the former, but no account of its operations 
was ever made to the associate manager for the county. 



The Soldiers' Aid Society of Gibson was organized the 8th of August, 
1863, with the following officers: Mrs. Ellen Whitney, president; Mrs. W. 
T. Read, vice-president; Miss 0. D. Tuttle, secretary; J. G. Stiles, trea- 
surer ; directors, Mrs. 0. P. Hawley, Mrs. S. S. Ingalls' Mrs. 0. P. Edwards, 
Miss Eleanor Read. On the 12th of September, 1863, a box was made ready 
for the W. P. B , and another on the 3d of October following. Their con- 
tents were : Feather pillows, woolen sacks, handkerchiefs, hop pillows, one 
comfortable, six double gowns, pillow cases, shirts, drawers, lint and linen 
rags, 34 lbs. dried currants, 1 bushel of apples, 8 bottles of blackberry cor- 
dial and raspberry vinegar, besides various packages of dried fruit. It is 
unfortunate that no cash estimate was made of the value of these boxes be- 
fore forwarding. Material for clothing had cost .... $56 22 
Gibson sent to the Great Central Fair one box valued at $100 

and cash $7 45 107 45 

South Gibson sent a box to the Christian Commission, Sept. 1864. 
Gibson Hollow and Gibson Hill, a box to the same, November, 

1864 23 00 

Cash raised by subscription and sent to the Sanitary Commission, 

December, 1864 75 50 

Collection on Thanksgiving Day, sent to the Am. Union Com. for 

refugees 45 40 

Net proceeds of a festival, divided equally between the Sanitary 

and Christian Commissions 205 24 

Total $512 81 

[We ore indebted to the pen of Hon. U. Burrows for intelligence of what 
was done for suffering soldiers after the disbanding of the Aid Society.] 

In addition to his liberal cash subscription, George H. Wells sent one bbl. 
of onions. 

Mrs. Burrows, Mrs. Read, Mrs. Ingalls, Mrs. Edwards, and Mrs. Kennedy 
were engaged in preparing the last box when they received $10 from Miss 
S. M. Walker from the fund entrusted to her. This furnished them flannel, 
which they made up and forwarded to the Commission as above. Without 
estimates of a portion of the supplies, we have contributions to the value of 
more than five hundred dollars. 

There is no common business centre in Gibson, business being distributed 
among four different places in the township; this was "one cause that em- 
barrassed the successful and regular working of a soldiers' aid society, and 
made the efforts of the people somewhat spasmodic." 
39 



610 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



The ladies of Lathrop organized a soldiers' aid, August, 1863, in re- 
sponse to an appeal from the associate manager in behalf of the Sanitary 
Commission. From a letter to her written by the secretary we are permitted 
to quote : — 

" We find a great amount of opposition, but the greatest difficulty is the 
unaccountable ignorance of many respecting the workings of the Sanitary Com- 
mission. We are met on all sides with, 'The soldiers will never get it; 'twill 
be devoured by surgeons and nurses;' then follows an account of 'boxes lost,' 
etc., which, of course, were sent to friends in regiments. If we can succeed in 
making them understand the difference between the U. S. Sanitary Commission 
and local ' Aid Societies,' we can do much more." 

The officers first reported were : Mrs. Thayer, president (afterwards Mrs. 

1. A. Newton took her place) ; Mrs. Silvius, treasurer ; Mrs. George Bron- 
son, secretary; Mrs. J. M. G. Baker, corresponding secretary. The latter 
made strenuous exertions to secure the interest of others in the cause; and 
not wholly without success, as the report of supplies forwarded attest. Un- 
like many other societies, their efforts seem to have been far more abundant 
during the last six months prior to July, 1865, than at any previous time. 
This was owing, in part, to the encouragement received from the avails of 
the oyster supper given by the society at the house of Captain Lord, March 

2, 1865. Notwithstanding a storm prevailed at the time, the receipts were 
$125.13. Not long previous they received, per Miss Walker, $10, and, 
before the close of their work, another $10, "to be doubled." With a list 
before us of the articles sent to the Commission, we are constrained to feel 
that the total estimate, $134.22, is much too low. Besides five barrels of 
vegetables, three firkins of pickles, five gallons of spiced cabbage, one ham, 
five quarts prepared horseradish, a half bushel oats, 4 lbs. hops, 7 lbs. old 
muslin, reading matter, and one or more small packages, there were 40 lbs. 
dried berries and peaches, and 85 lbs. dried apples included with the consign- 
ments, which were even more directly the result of the industry of the ladies 
at their meetings, viz., 17 shirts, 5 pairs drawers, 4 quilts, 9 pairs socks, 1 
dozen linen napkins, 8 towels, 5 pairs pillow cases, 2 pillows, and 2 hop pil- 
lows, 38 thumb stalls, 15 pads, and arm slings with splints, 15 lbs. bandages, 
2 lbs. lint, 3 handkerchiefs, 1 cushion. 

The operations of the society appear to have been in the central portions 
of the township, and principally along Horton's Creek. 



The organization of the Glenwood Soldiers' Aid Society, November 26, 
1863, and its successful operation, may justly be considered due to the efforts 
of Miss Jessie Hartley, its secretary. Miss Sarah J. Hartley was chosen 
president, and Miss C. Conrad, treasurer. At the first three or four meet- 
ings only five or six ladies were present; but, at the fifth meeting, nine 
convened. The former number was the average attendance. Two ladies 
volunteered to go through a portion of the township of Lenox and solicit 
contributions, the result of which was a consignment to the W. P. B , De- 
cember, 1863, of which the modest valuation was less than $20. Several per- 
sons refused 4o assist, with the plea that the articles sent would never reach 
the soldiers, but be appropriated dishonestly. In view of this the secretary 
thought that " perhaps their misgivings might be allayed through the medium 
of the county papers, if some persons in possession of facts concerning the 
benefit done by other aid societies of our county should consider the matter 
of sufficient importance to publish them." 

In reply to this the associate manager published, in the 'Montrose Repub- 
lican', statements that were considered satisfactory. The ten members of the 



APPENDIX. 611 

Glenwood Society were able, on the 23d of June, 1864, to forward the second 
barrel of supplies, when the treasurer reported forty cents remaining in the 
treasury — "all our capital — for we have nothing beside; not the smallest 
scrap of anything whatever was left;" and yet, one month later, the forty 
cents had swelled to forty dollars. The latter constituted the proceeds of an 
oyster supper given by the ladies. Often was there " not a scrap left," after 
consignments by other societies; but faith and works soon brought in a new 
supply for succeeding demands. 

In the fall of 1864 the Glenwood Society received $10 from the fund dis- 
bursed by Miss Walker, and, in acknowledging it, a just tribute was paid to 
her as a laborer in the cause " in which," says the secretary in a letter to 
Miss W., -'you have and are still performing a part unparalleled, as far as 
I have known, in noble results." 

For some months previous to October 28, 1864, no meetings had been 
held, and yet, up to that time, having been in receipt of only $66.70 in cash, 
the society had forwarded 117 lbs. dried apples, 52 lbs. dried berries, cur- 
rants, etc., 3| bushels of green apples, 12| lbs. butter. 5 gallons pickles, 12 
cans fruit, etc., 10 gallons blackberry brandy (valued at $40), 1 bottle wine, 
besides the bedding, socks, etc., making a total value of about . $30 00 

Cash sent to G. O. Fair, per Mrs. F. P. Grow . . . . 24 00 

Individuals in the northern part of Lenox, who at one time contributed, 
through Mrs. Lucy 2. T. Oakley, to the Glenwood Aid Society, had, at 
length, March 27, 1865, an organisation of their own, by the distinctive ap- 
pellation of the "Lenox Soldiers' Aid ;" of which the following report was 
given, not long afterwards, in the columns of the ' Republican': — 

" We liad almost concluded our numbers too small and scattered, most of 
whom had sent forth their companions, brothers, and sons, thus leaving them 
to struggle alone in rather destitute circumstances. But the call to aid our 
released prisoners could not be passed by without notice. The cause being 
earnestly presented before the community, an appointment was made for the 
organization of a society for this object. Accordingly, on the 27th March, a few- 
wended their way to the 'Old Red School House,' and, after calling to order, 
made choice of Mrs. D. E. White, president ; Miss Cordelia Tingley, vice- 
president; Mrs. Lucy Z. T. Oakley, secretary; Miss J. Lord, treasurer; appointed 
■Saturday, April 1, for our next meeting at the house of D. C. Oakley. At this 
meeting committees were appointed to visit and solicit funds. Thus we have 
met each week, at places designated by the society, and have had our hearts 
cheered as our numbers have doubled every meeting. We have, with united 
effort, been able to fill one barrel containing various articles, such as shirts, 
drawers, socks, slippers, handkerchiefs, pillow, pillow-cases, thread, bandages, 
1 quilt, sheet, combs, housewife, dried apples, dried berries, dried beef, sugar, 
tea, butter, onions, and a quantity of reading matter. Also, one keg of pickles 
ready for use. All valued at $43.20." 

One barrel, one box valued at about $15, and one keg of pickles— the sum 
total of their consignments (as the work of the Sanitary Commission closed 
in July) does not represent the value of their organization to themselves or 
to others. It was a self-sacrificing effort made by a scattered community, 
at a season when their energies were taxed to the utmost for the erection of 
a house of worship. The secretary wrote respecting those connected with 
the Aid Society: " Many that have contributed to it were really needy them- 
selves;" and of their church enterprise: "Having always met in a school- 
house, and that becoming very poor, we need, greatly need, a house more 
comfortable." This was not the only instance in the county where a neigh- 
borhood struggling to secure a comfortable (not luxurious) house of worship, 
supplemented their work with effort for the Sanitary Commission ; but of 
such spirits are most good enterprises begotten. 



612 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



In response to Miss Walker's appeal, July, 1863, for organized effort here, 
the following- reply was given by a lady who contributed through the societies 
of other townships, prior to the formation of a soldiers' aid in Liberty : — 

" I would gladly do anything I could, but the people here are so friendly 
to the South, they will not hear nor do anything." 

This is not quoted to revive old prejudices, but to state the facts as they 
existed at the time ; it was not only in Liberty, but in other localities, such a 
state of things existed, to ignore which, would be to hide from view the 
greatest difficulty then encountered by the loyal women in prosecuting their 
work through the U. S. Sanitary Commission. Then, too, they had their 
own griefs. It was painful to see a man drafted, being unable to serve, and 
yet being obliged to pay his $300 to stay at home ; but there were women 
who could bear to see this even in their own families, and still exert them- 
selves for those who had been able to answer their country's call. It is only 
by considering these and kindred circumstances, that one can rightly esti- 
mate the sacrifice made by the ladies in sustaining a soldiers' aid society. 

Miss Walker, accompanied by three officers of the Montrose Aid, had met 
the ladies of the township at the Baptist church, and incited them to 
organize, January 13th, 1864, under the name of Lawsville Center Aid. 
Mrs. D. Stanford was elected president; Mrs. Garry Law, vice-president; 
Miss Edna M. Cowles, treasurer; and Miss M. A. Smith, secretary. 

After the third meeting the secretary wrote of very il good success," and 
as if sanguine that an increase of interest would be felt in their undertaking ; 
but "the members were widely scattered, and it was with much difficulty 
they could get together. Then came reports that the Commission did not 
make good use of the means put in their hands. Mrs. Stanford was energetic 
and faithful, but there was very little responsive activity. The last effort 
that she made to get the society together, only two members met with her, 
and the notice of the meeting was read in the Baptist and Presbyterian 
houses." With all this array of discouragement, it is gratifying to know 
that the organization was far from being non-efficient. Though the cash 
capital amounted, in all, to but $41, of which $9 were returned to the asso- 
ciate manager at the close of its operations, $32 were so judiciously invested 
as to be much more than quadrupled in the value of the supplies forwarded 
by the society. The first box was not estimated, but it must have been 
quite valuable, containing 9 quilts besides 60 minor articles. It was sent 
April 7th, '64. The next, July 9th, following, was valued at $39.84. A 
firkin of pickled cucumbers was forwarded, November 26th, and one of 
sauerkraut, December 30th, '64. The last box was filled and sent February 
17th, I860, after which the society appears not to have been in active opera- 
tion, though it was not formally closed until July 1st of the same year. The 
total estimate then made of their contributions was $135. Remnants were 
made into garments for the freedmen. 



During the fall of 1863, Mrs. Dr. Dunham called upon a number of the 
ladies of Rush to notify them of the appeal of Miss Walker, for their united 
efforts for the relief of suffering soldiers; but, it was not until the 16th of 
February, 1864, that the ladies met and effected an organization. This was 
at the residence of N. Granger, Esq., and Mrs. Dunham was called upon to 
preside, after which the following officers were elected: Mrs. Amos Sher- 
wood, president; Mrs. Loring Hewen, secretary; Mrs. Norman Granger, 
treasurer; Mrs. C. Perrigo, solicitor for the north district. The other dis- 
tricts, outside of the one in which the meeting was held, were not represented. 
The resolutions then adopted show that after-meetings were held upon a dif- 
ferent plan from that in Montrose and some other places, where a room was 



APPENDIX. 613 

secured for the purpose, and no one was burdened to furnish a supper for the 
workers. The afternoon and evening of every alternate Thursday was 
appointed for their meetings, which were to be held from place to place upon 
invitation, according to the. 2d resolution which concluded thus: "Our hos- 
tess shall give us nothing but plain, soldiers' fare for our supper, and no re- 
freshments in the evening." A " mite" was required of every person coming 
in, in the evening ; and the sum thus raised was not inconsiderable, as the 
young people understood that play and not work was intended. 

During the. first nine months after organization the society received, in 
cash, $194.72 ; and the estimated value of the consignments to the W. P. B. 
for the same time was $313.20. 

These included only the results of labor in 1864. 

In March, 1S65, another valuable box was forwarded, the cash receipts 
through the winter having greatly increased; and just two months later the 
last consignment was made, the last " mite" collected, (nearly $300 being the 
total amount of cash receipts) and the work was closed up by sending $51.75 
(the balance in the treasury) to the Freedmen's Fund at the Am. Baptist 
Home Mission Rooms, Nassau Street, N. Y. This, or a similar, disposal 
was made of the funds remaining with other soldiers' aid societies upon 
their regular disbanding. 

The total contents of the boxes filled during fifteen months bear testimony 
to the activity and patriotism of the ladies of Rush. Besides 4 firkins of 
pickles, 26 gallons blackberry syrup, 118 lbs. dried fruit, 36 cans of fruit, 12 
bottles horseradish, with smaller quantities of various articles of diet, there 
were made or contributed 73 pillows and 19 cases, 8 sheets. 6 bed quilts. 59 
shirts, 40 prs. drawers, 44 prs. socks, 24 dressing-gowns, 34 towels, 119 hand- 
kerchiefs, 21 arm-slings and pads, 114 needlebooks and "housewives," and 
several miscellaneous articles of clothing, and large quantities of old linen 
bandages, and reading matter accompanied them. 

EAST RUSH. 

Prior to September, 1864, the ladies near Eddy church had attempted 
something in the way of a separate organization, Miss Maggie Bertholf, 
president, and Mrs. Frederick Fargo, treasurer and secretary, but their 
contributions found their way to the Women's Penn. Brauch, via Montrose 
and Dimock Aids, and were not estimated. Mrs. Fargo herself, a soldier's 
wife with three children, wrote of their discouragements: — 

" Our place is so full of soldiers' wives and widows, and fatherless children, 
that it is hard to do much, but we will try to do more, though it is my daily 
prayer that our labors may not be needed long, but that the brave soldiers 
may soon return to be nursed by wife, sister, or mother." 

On the 30th of November, 1864, encouraged by the receipt of ten dollars 
per Miss Walker, and by the helping hand of the minister of their parish, 
the ladies had a meeting at Mrs. Fred. Fargo's, and reorganized by electing 
Mrs. James Fargo, president; Mrs. J. More and Mrs. Fred. Fargo, vice- 
presidents; and Mrs. J. M. France, secretary; the N. E. corner of Auburn 
being represented. This society continued in operation through the winter, 
and sent to the W. P. B. bedding, clothing, dried fruit, scrap-books for con- 
valescents, etc. etc., amounting to more than $80. They sent to the Chris- 
tian Commission $10 cash. 

The associate manager of the county, and three representatives of dif- 
ferent aid societies, visited this society at the house of E. W. Gray, in East 
Rush, February 11th, '65, encountering drifts that made the effort perilous; 
but it was rewarded at last by a welcome from a group of ladies earnestly at 
work for the soldiers. The society sustained itself under difficulties that 
would have wholly disheartened members less enterprising and patriotic. 



614 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 



The party mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, proceeded to Jessup, 
■where, two hours later, they found a company of forty gathered at the " Bolles 
school house," where needles and shears were busy. On the previous even- 
ing a mite society, tributary to the aid, was held in the same township, and 
twenty dollars were collected and added to their treasury. 

In four months the Jessnp Aid had forwarded three consignments, and the 
fourth was ready. 

The associate manager read here, a letter from Mrs. Grier, of the Commis- 
sion, relative to the statements afloat derogatory to its reliability. The reply 
made by Miss Ellen Mitchell to an inquiry respecting her own observation of 
the workings of the Commission, was also given. Here we quote the account 
given by one of the visitors : " Then followed a novel ' tea-taking.' Since the 
days when we went, basket in hand, making our early essays up the Hill of 
Science, we had not feasted in a school-house ; and, cot then, as now, with the 
bountifully spread table enlivened by the contents of the ' hissing urn,' or its 
less pretending substitute. By the way, why would it not be well for all the 
district societies to follow the plan of Jessup — meet in the forenoon, have a 
picnic dinner, and spend the whole day, onee a fortnight ?" 

The mite society of Jessup was organized Jan. 15, 1864, by electing 
L. B. Pickett, president ; Edgar W. Bolles, secretary ; Fannie Cornell, col- 
lector; and Libbie Baldwin, treasurer. 

For nine months this was the only effort made to obtain funds for the 
relief of sick and wounded soldiers ; but it was the most efficient one of the 
kind in the county, mite societies in almost every other instance, being simply 
auxiliary to regular aid societies. This society held eighteen meetings, at 
which the whole amount collected was very nearly two hundred dollars. 
($199.15.) The last meeting was held April 7th, 1865. 

The Jessup Aid Society was organized in the Bolles school bouse (District 
No. 4), October 28th, 1864, by the election of Mrs. Dr. Bissell for president; 
Mrs. Sally Bolles, Cordelia Bolles, Mrs. Mary Wheelock, Mrs. Kate 01m- 
stead, Mrs. Amy Blasdell, vice-presidents; Miss V. M. Chatfield, recording 
secretary and treasurer ; and Miss Jessie Bissell, corresponding secretary. 

The society met weekly until Christmas, when they had prepared two 
barrels of clothing, dried fruit, etc., for the Sanitary Commission, and one 
firkin of pickles, which together were valued at $95.73. Their great suc- 
cess, in so short a period, was due to the fact that the mite society, after 
sending $72.64 to the Philadelphia Fair, had given into their hands $40; 
which, with an equal amount collected by E. W. Bolles on election day, 
(Nov. 8, 1864), and $10 from the fund held by Miss Walker, gave them 
advantages at the outset, enjoyed, it is believed, by no other society. 

After New- Year's, 1865, the meetings were semi-monthly only, but by the 
11th of March following, two more barrels were packed and forwarded to 
the Commission. The society then had thirty-eight members, and the secre- 
tary wrote : " There seems to be a lively, persevering interest manifested in 
its behalf. We have many a willing heart and hand to aid in this good 
cause." 

It is but just, in writing of woman's work in our county during the war, to 
attribute much of its efficiency to the pecuniary aid furnished by the stronger 
sex. Indeed, in very many ways were we indebted to them, and in none more 
than as they made us feel their confidence in our success. 

The greater part of the Fire Hill District contributed to the East Rush 
Society. Prior to Oct. 1864, Jessup had sent liberal supplies to the Mon- 
trose Aid, and also directly to soldiers, but no cash estimates were then 
made. But, aside from these, the cash donations from individuals, and from 



APPENDIX. 615 

the mite society, with the contributions to the G. C. Fair, and in material to 
the Jessup Aid, formed an aggregate value of $788.37. This was gathered 
in eighteen months, and from one of the smallest townships. 

DUNDAFF AID. 

At the request of Miss S. M. Walker, Mrs. 0. Poulson and daughter made 
the first effort towards an aid society in Dundaff, Oct. 1864. The latter, 
with several young girls, organized themselves into a committee of solicita- 
tion and raised $14. Mrs. P. called at nearly every house in the village, 
meeting, in almost every instance, with ready encouragement from the ladies, 
who met soon after at Miss Wells', preparatory to an organization. This 
was fully effected, Oct, 21, 1864. with the following officers : Mrs. Sylvester 
Johnson, president; Mrs. A. Wilbur, Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. A. Phelps, Mrs. J. 
Hodge, Mrs. Slocum, vice-presidents ; Mrs. J. Slocum, secretary and trea- 
surer. Cutting and packing committees were also appointed. 

The labors of these committees in all societies were very arduous, and on 
this account, the members took them in turn, in most cases. At Dundaff 
they were permanent. Miss Sally Wells, Mrs. Phelps, Mrs. Lamoreaux, 
Mrs. J. Weaver, and Mrs. R. Phinney, being the cutting committee ; and 
Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Mills, Mrs. Dr. Reed, Mrs. Morris, and Miss Louisa John- 
son, committee on packing. 

A room over a store was prepared for the use of the society, and consid- 
erable interest was soon evinced by the people of the borough and vicinity. 
A Christmas supper given by the ladies netted $103.76. The gifts in 
poultry, etc., had been very liberal. From other sources $27.35 were 
received during the month, and the work progressed well through the winter ; 
1 firkin of butter, besides small packages ; 1 firkin of pickles ; 1 barrel 
dried apples; 3 boxes, containing bedding, clothing, fruit— green, dried, and 
canned; 43 arm-slings and pads ; 2 jugs grated horse-radish (tearful eyes !) ; 
21 "housewives" with towels, handkerchiefs, etc., and a variety of other 
articles for hospital use. The total estimate given, $161.35, is altogether 
too low. 

The principal part of the butter was sent in the summer of 1865, $10 from 
Miss Walker being doubled in this investment. The money remaining in the 
treasury at the close of operations was given to a family in the place, the 
father of which had died in defence of the Union. 

SILVER LAKE. 

Brackney Soldiers' Aid was in operation late in 1864. 

On the 27th of December the ladies gave an oyster supper at the house of 
Mr. William Gage, in Brackney, for the purpose of adding to their funds 
for carrying out the great wor*k in which they had enlisted. They acknowl- 
edged the receipt of $51, as the avails of the supper, with thanks for the 
willingness of the people to contribute for the soldiers, adding, "We hope 
they will continue to sustain us in our undertaking, until there are no more 
sick and wounded soldiers to care for." Mrs. Isaac Gage was secretary. 

Previous to this organization the ladies of Silver Lake had contributed to 
the Montrose Aid. 

EAST BRIDGEWATER. 

A society of this name, of which Mrs. D.H. Wade was president, reported 
November 4, 1864, as having sent $12.50 to the Sanitary Fair at Philadel- 
phia, and to the Commission the following articles: 16 shirts, 8 pairs socks, 
10 arm-slings, 2 feather pillows and cases, 2 hop-pillows, 1 bottle blackberry 
wine. 2 packages dried apples, 3 packages dried berries, and a quantity of 
bandages and lint. 



616 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

After receiving', in December, 1864, a donation of $10 from tbe fund en- 
trusted to Miss Walker, seven families of the neighborhood (quite in the 
northeast part of the town), assembled one evening in that month and re- 
solved to double it and return in supplies to the Commission. Mrs. E. W. 
Hawley was chosen president, and Miss Lydia M. Stephens secretary. A 
sum of five or six dollars was subscribed at once, meetings were appointed 
semi-weekly, and each person attending was to pay ten cents to increase the 
fund. For want of other work the preparation of apples for drying was 
taken up. In January, 1865, we hear of them as engaged in making cotton 
shirts. In February following, the associate manager reports a visit to the 
society " with Rev. A. H. Schoonmaker, and some of the Montrose ladies, in 
S. Sayre's sleigh. The former addressed us ably, and a collection was taken 
up." This exhibits only one of the instances in which the reverend gentle- 
man referred to served the soldiers' aid societies of tbe county, and where 
the associate manager was found cheering and encouraging feeble societies. 
Those organized late had been, in their individual members, for a long time 
contributors to the Montrose Aid or other societies. As an organization 
their contributions were estimated at $115. 

SOUTH BRIDGEWATER. 

February 25, 1865, this society organized, after having -very materially 
aided the Montrose Society, and in the few months of their existence made 
a good record. From mite societies held in the neighborhood, they received 
$50 ; from Miss Walker's fund, $10, and from other sources nearly $10 more, 
during the first two months. They forwarded 1 firkin of pickles, 2 barrels 
potatoes, and 1 barrel containing 42 lbs. dried fruit, 1 peck green apples, 1 
bottle horseradish, 9 comfort-bags, with 6 towels, needles, pins, thread, but- 
tons, soap and combs; 3 pairs pantaloons, 4 pairs drawers, 3 pairs socks, 1 
pair slippers, 6 shirts, 5 arm-slings, 14 handkerchiefs, 1 pillow, old muslin and 
reading matter. 

Mrs. Naomi Barnes, pres. ; Mrs. A. Butterfield, Mrs. H. Vail, Mrs. E. C. 
Wells, and Misses Josephine Tail and Florence Atherton, vice-pres. ; 
Miss Emily H. Wells, sec. and treas. 

The last mite society was held at the house of Mr. John F. Deans, July 
20, 1865, and the avails were used for the purchase of provisions for the 
lodges instituted by the Sanitary Commission for the benefit of our disabled 
and returning soldiers. 

A special plea had previously been published : — 

United States Sanitary Commission, 1 

Women's Pennsylvania Branch, > 

1307 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Feb. 25th, 1865. ) 

To the Aid Societies and Individuals contributing to the Philadelphia Agency of 
the United States Sanitary Commission : — We wish to make an urgent appeal to 
you for aid in a work which we are sure will enlist all the sympathy of 
your hearts, and the earnest labor of your hands. By a recent arrangement of 
the work of the various branches of the Sanitary Commission, it has been made 
the duty of the Pennsylvania Branch to collect and forward all the supplies 
needed for our returned prisoners, who are now constantly arriving at Annapo- 
lis. They are coming to us from those terrible Southern prisons, starved and 
almost naked — many of them suffering from neglected wounds received on the 
day of their capture. Of all our noble soldiers, they deserve most of our grate- 
ful care. To the Pennsylvania Department has been given the honor of sup- 
plying the Sanitary Stores, for the relief of these poor victims of the rebellion. 

Everything is needed. Clothing of all kinds, hospital slippers, towels, hand- 
kerchiefs, bandages, old linen and muslin in quantities, for dressing their 
wounds and sores ; delicacies of every description, pickles, dried fruit, domes- 
tic wines, apple butter, etc. To each one of our faithful allies in this blessed 
work we would say, — Will you seud what your husband, your son, your brotlie r 



APPENDIX. 617 

would require were lie one of those living skeletons who. are appealing to us for 
help ? We do not doubt your answer. Maria C. Grier, 

Chairman Executive Committee. 
This proved a strong 1 stimulus to all. " We shall work as if our fingers were 
winged," wrote one who had lost a precious brother in Andersonville prison ; 
and this was the feeling of many others throughout the county. One or two 
more societies sprang into existence (Lenox No. 2), and as follows : — 

DISTRICT NO. 5, BRIDGEWATER. 

Late in March, 1865, the " Grant Aid Society" was organized here, by 
electing Miss S. J. Harrington, president; Mrs. C. F. Watrous, secretary; 
Mrs. S. Watrous and Mrs. G P. Wells, financial committee; and Mrs. M. 
L. Catlin and Mrs. Wells, cutting committee. Their first effort was to raise 
funds to buy oysters with which they gave a supper, April 7th following, 
and realized therefrom $83.25. This sum, with $10 from Miss Walker, 
enabled them to buy material for clothing. They met every Tuesday after- 
noon to make it up. Their last meeting was on June 27, '65, and the balance 
then in the treasury, $5.35, was given to a soldier's widow. Their funds had 
been less than $100, but with this they sent to the W. P. B. of the Sanitary 
Committee .the following articles: 50 shirts, 19 pairs drawers, 2 bed quilts, 
18 comfort-bags, filled with needles, pins, thread, buttons, etc. ; 2 pairs pil- 
lows, and 3 pairs cases; 2 pairs socks, 20 handkerchiefs, 6 pairs slippers, with 
3 bbls. potatoes, 2 firkins of pickles, and a quantity of tea, sugar, coffee (un- 
weighed), popped corn, and reading matter. It may be safely said they 
doubled their capital ; and we have their own statement that they were happy 
in their work. 

At Heart Lake, the ladies though not regularly organized, accepted $10 
from Miss Walker's fund and doubled it in the purchase of butter, which 
they sent with three barrels of potatoes, and one barrel of dried fruit to the 
Sanitary Commission. Mrs. C. J. Curtis, Misses Cole and McCollum were 
efficient. 

At last, the "cruel war was over," and the societies prepared to disband 
by the 4th of July, 1865. On that day a circular was issued by the Women's 
Pennsylvania Branch to the aid societies contributing to it, an extract from 
which is here given : — 

"We thank you for your warm, earnest, and untiring co-operation, feeling 
that, if the Philadelphia Agency of the Sanitary Commission is able to look 
with grateful satisfaction upon results accomplished, the praise is largely due 
to you as faithful co-workers in this blessed ministry to the suffering. Our 
work is closing, dear friends, but shall we ever forget how our hearts have been 
knit together during its accomplishment? Our memories of these years will 
never perish. The sorrow and the agony cannot be forgotten ; but, like a rain- 
bow upon the storm, we shall look back with ever-returning joy to the help we 
were enabled to give to that most noble of instrumentalities for good, whose 
work has been so vast and so beneficent — the United States Sanitary Com- 
mission. Maria C. Gkier, 

" Chairman Executive Committee.'''' 

The Sanitary and Christian Commissions turned over to the American Freed- 
man's Aid the stores remaining on hand. 

THE WOMEN OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY IN ARMY HOSPITALS. 

"Unfearing she walks, for she follows the Lord. — 
How sweetly she bends o'er each plague-tainted face, 
With looks that are lighted with holiest grace ! 
How kindly she dresses each suffering limb, 
For she sees in the wounded the image of Him !" 

— From Gerald Griffin's Tribute to his Sister. 



618 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

1. Miss Ellen E. Mitchell, of Montrose, went to Bellevue Hospital, May, 
1861, and spent several weeks in preparation for the service of army nurse, 
under the auspices of the Ladies' Relief Association, New York city. In 
September following', she went to Union Hotel Hospital, Georgetown, D.O., 
for three months. January, 1862, she was sent by Miss Dix to St. Elizabeth 
Hospital, Washington, D. 0., where she remained about six months, when 
she was called home by the death of her mother ; after a few weeks she re- 
turned to Washington, and from there was sent to Point Lookout, Md. 
Here her position was very trying, and, after two months she came back to 
Washington, and served successively in the Warehouse Hospital, the Catho- 
lic church, and Union Hotel (Miss Alcott's ward). When the last named 
hospital was finally broken up, Miss Mitchell went to Knight's Hospital, 
New Haven, Ct., for three montlis, after which she spent ten months in the 
Treasury Department, at Washington; still holding herself in readiness for 
Miss Dix's orders. These sent her to the battle at Fredericksburg, where 
she remained until the place was evacuated, and then came to Judiciary 
Square Hospital, serving here until the close of the war. 

She afterwards studied medicine in the Female Medical College, New 
York, graduating in 1870 ; practised one year in the Infirmary there, after 
which she established herself as a physician at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 
the fall of 1871. 

2. Miss Elizabeth Richards died in the service. [See Friendsville.] 

3. Miss Laurie C. Gates, of Dimock, while a teacher to the freedmen at 
Lincoln Hospital, D. C, spent most of her leisure during fifteen months in 
voluntary service to the sick and wounded. 

4. Miss Lydia A. Chamberlin, of Choconut, went to Columbian College 
Hospital, January 1, 1863. After three months there, she was sent to 
Knight's Hospital, where she remained until the following autumn, when 
she was obliged to come home to recruit. The next spring she went to Ches- 
ter, Pennsylvania, performing hospital service a few weeks there, before she 
was sent to Chesapeake Hospital, Fortress Monroe. In August, she was 
called home, but returned to her post the following winter, and remained 
until August, 1865. 

5. Miss Jane E. Bentley went, August, 1863, to Knight's Hospital, New 
Haven, and remained there until the following December, when she was sent 
by Miss Dix to Chesapeake Hospital, Fortress Monroe. Here she remained 
until August. 1865. 

From September 4, 1866, she has occupied the position of matron in the 
Home for Orphan Children, at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. 

6. Mrs. Mary Wootton, of Montrose, went to Georgetown, D. C, Septem- 
ber, 1863, as matron in the Volunteer Officers' Hospital. A year later, at 
Miss Dix's request, she occupied a similar position at Elmira, N. Y., to the 
close of the war. 

WORK FOR THE FREEDMEN. 

From the report made April 7, 1868, by Miss S. M. Walker, to the W. P. 
Branch of the American Freedmen's Commission, we copy the following: — 

" Though many of our self-sacrificing people felt they had already given to 
the soldiers all that could be spared, yet the officers of their aid societies in 
Montrose and Dimock reorganized for the freedmen, eleventh month, 1S65, in 
prompt response to an appeal from the W. P. B. and Am. F. Commission. 

" An aid society was also formed by the colored women of Montrose, second 
month, 1866. These three were the only societies formed in aid of the freed- 
men, but several of the adjoining townships and Harford contributed liberally 
towards the consignments forwarded by these societies. Small remittances in 
money have been received from ten townships, in response to letters addressed 
to the faithful auxiliaries of the Sanitary Commission. 

"11th month, 1S66, our kind friend, L. G. Parrish, offered to support a 



APPENDIX. 619 

teacher from Susquehanna County with our assistance. Amount collected to 
the present time, $47-'. 30." 

Before the close of the school year, July, 1868, $47. 52 were added, making 
$519.82. 

As the teacher was engaged only five months of the first year, and four 
months of the second, her salary had been raised without Mrs. P.'s contri- 
bution ; but the latter was needed for transportation, outfit, and incidental 
expenses. In the meantime a number of barrels of clothing had been for- 
warded to destitute freedmen, eight of which were from Dimock ; one box 
went from Uniondale — the remainder from Montrose. 

Miss Walker became responsible, November, 1868, in behalf of Susque- 
hanna County, for the support of one teacher two years. The amount col- 
lected and forwarded in that time was $748.68. This covered the salary for 
the number of months in which the teacher was actually engaged, and, with 
the sums contributed by the freedmen themselves, balanced the expenses of 
the Commission for Miss Chamberliu to July, 1870 ($1268.50). 

In October, 1867, Miss Walker had been elected a vice-president of the 
W. P. Branch of the American Freedmen Commission; but, after three 
years' service, was obliged, by failing health, to resign her position, and also 
the responsibility of securing funds for the support of a teacher. 

Hitherto the following townships had contributed: Bridgewater (with 
Montrose), Dimock, Choconut, Forest Lake, Silver Lake, Apolacon, Jessup, 
Springville, Auburn, Rush, Franklin, Great Bend, New Milford, Harford, 
Gibson, Jackson, Brooklyn, Lenox, Clifford, Herrick, and Ararat. If any- 
thing was done by the townships not mentioned, it was not through the Ame- 
rican Freedmen's Commission, or has not been reported. It is believed that 
agents for the American Missionary Association took up collections for the 
freedmen in several parts of the county. From November 2, 1866. to Janu- 
ary 1, 1872, the Montrose Aid alone had collected and forwarded $786.53, 
besides using $94.20 for material which the society made into clothing for 
destitute freedmen. With a small later contribution, the amount raised by 
the county for the freedmen, since November, 1866, independent of agents' 
collections, is about $1400. 

TEACHERS TO THE FREEDMEN. 

1. Miss Antoinette L. Etheridge, of Montrose, went to Beaufort, S. C, 
November, 1863, as teacher to the freedmen, under the auspices of the Ame- 
rican Missionary Association. She remained in that vicinity until July, 1865, 
when she returned to the North. In the fall of 1866 she went to Fortress 
Monroe, taught four months, and was then sent to Augusta, Ga., where she 
taught four months before the summer vacation. In October, 1867, she went 
again to Fortress Monroe, and taught in that vicinity eight months; and, 
again, in the fall of 1868, remaining six months. Not long after her return 
home she engaged as teacher in the Orphans' Home at Wilkes-Barre ; but she 
was too much worn to endure the position, and left at the close of the first 
term. Early in January, 1871, she was once more with the freedmen in 
Amelia County, Va., and remained until the following July; in the fall she 
resumed her labors there, but, after the summer vacation of 1872, went to 
Wallingford Academy, Charleston, South Carolina. 

2. Miss Laurie C. Gates was a teacher at Lincoln Hospital, Washington, 
D. C, from May, 1864, to July, 1865, under the auspices of the American 
Missionary Association. 

3. Emily C. Blackmau went to Okolona, Chickasaw County, Mississippi, 
November, 1866, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Branch of the Ameri- 
can Freedmen's Union Commission, and supported by the Church of the 
Epiphany, Philadelphia. Her school was opened in response to the call of 
a Southern gentleman, Dr. J. E. Tucker, for teachers for his former slaves. 
There were then five hundred and four negroes, young and old, under his 



620 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

supervision, and of these more than three hundred received instruction from 
two, three, and, for a time, four teachers in day and night schools, and in 
Sabbath-schools nine months. The working force of the plantation was 
greatly reduced in the fall of 1867, but still a large school was kept up seven 
months, ending July 1, 1868, when the writer returned to the North without 
the hope of resuming labors which had been at once the most arduous and 
the most joyous of her life. Members of that school who first learned there 
to write the letters of the alphabet are now teaching, each with a salary of 
$50 per month ; others have passed an examination which has permitted 
their entrance into Alcorn University, Mississippi. 

4. Miss Lydia A. Chamberlin, of Choconut, went to Okolona, May, 1867, 
under the above auspices, to take charge of a plantation school five miles 
distant from Dr. Tucker's, but she taught in the latter several weeks before her 
own school-house was ready. Her labors were transferred, after the first 
vacation, to a school opened February, 1868, in the city of Okolona, by the 
Pennsylvania Branch of the American Freedmen Union Commission. The 
salary of Miss C. was secured by the contributions of Susquehanna County 
and of the freedmen attending the school. 

5. In the fall of 1868 she returned to the same school, accompanied by her 
sister, Miss Carrie E. Chamberlin. Both taught there until June, 1869, 
and each succeeding winter and spring until November, 1871, when they were 
transferred to the school at Dr. Tucker's. 

6. Miss Maggie S. Baldwin accompanied the Misses C. to their school at 
Okolona. 

7. On the 1st of January, 1869, these ladies were joined by Miss Phebe E. 
Lewis. In December following the Misses Baldwin and Lewis took charge 
of the school at Dr. Tucker's, teaching until June, 1870, and resuming the 
same in the fall. They closed their labors there June, 1871. 

SOLDIERS AND MILITARY MATTERS. 

Revolutionary Soldiers who have Resided in Susquehanna County. — 
Asa Adams, at Bunker Hill ; Jedediah Adams, six and a half years in the 
war; John Adams, lived to be 104 years old; Ezekiel Avery, Benjamin Bab- 
cock, Babcock (Dimock), John-Baker, Nathaniel Balcom, Joel Barnes, Ne- 

hemiah Barnes, Reuben Beebe, Amos Bennett, Elias Bennett, Abiel Bills, 
John Blaisdell, Nathan Brewster, Sr., in American and French Revolutions; 

Isaac Brown, Brownson, Jonas Brush, Captain Ichabod Buck, Nathan 

Buel, Isaac Bullard, John Burnham. Joseph Button, Andrew Canfield, 
Captain Benjamin Case (Great Bend), Putnam Catlin. Benjamin Chamberlin, 
Daniel Chamberlin (Choconut), Moses Chamberlin, Wright Chamberlin (Gib- 
son), Darius Cook, Ezekiel Cook, Ozem Cook, Henry Congdon, Dyer Crocker, 
John Darrow, Josiah Davis, Peter Dickey, Lieutenant David Dimock, Ed- 
ward Dimmick, David Doolittle, Ezra Doty, Isaac Doud, Jonathan Edwards, 
John Eldred, James Eldridge, Stephen Ellis, Gabriel Ely, Pardon Fish. 

Simeon Foot, Ford, Silas Fowler, Fuller, Nathaniel Gates, George 

Gelatt, Asahel Gregory, Abner Griffis, Stephen Griffis, Timothy Hall, Israel 
Hewitt, Captain Bartlet Hinds, Dudley Holdridge, Seth Holmes, Garner Is- 
bell, Joshua Jackson, Luther Kallam, Rufus Kingsley, drummer at Bunker 
Hill; Gershom F. Lane, Hezekiah Leach, Daniel Lawrence, Captain Luther 
Leet, Rufus Lines, Captain John Locke, of the Boston Tea Party, 1773; 

Ezekiel Maine, Nathan Maxon, Joseph McKune. Jesse Miles, Miller, 

Josiah Mills, Almon Muuson, Jouathan Newman, Patrick Nuang (?), Robert 
Nichols, Issachar Nickerson, David Olmstead. Hezekiah Olney, Thaddeus 
Peet, Joseph Potter, Captain Hazard Powers, Sr. (?), Henry Pruyne, Joseph 
Raynsford, John Renyolds, Simeon Reynolds, Caleb Richardson, Jonathan 
Ross, Isaac Rynearsou, Bristol B. Sampson, Samuel Scott, Zerah Scott, 
Westol Scoville, Ichabod Seaver, Christian Shelp, David Sherer, Christopher 



APPENDIX. 621 

Sherman, William Shu felt, Garrett Snedaker (N. Milford). Asaliel South- 
well (?), Staples, Captain Jarah Stephens, William Stephens, Nathaniel 

Stewart, Clement Sumner, Lawrence Tarpining, John Thatcher, Thomas 
Thatcher. Eseck Thayer, Joseph Thomas, Hosea Tiffany, Thomas Tiffany, 
Nathaniel Tower, Isaac Turrell, Moses Tyler, Elias Van Winkle, David 
Wakelee, Sylvanus Wade, Lemuel Wallbridge, Ephraim Warefield, Amos 
Webster, Jacob Wellman, Cornelius Westbrook, John Whitely. Enos Whit- 
ney, Thomas Williams, in American and French Revolutions, and lived to be 
104 years old, dying in 1826 ; Barnard Worthing, Captain Samuel Wright, 
Simeon Wylie, Samuel Yeomans, Samuel Clark, Gideon Lyman. Total num- 
ber, 140. 

The earliest item found respecting military organizations in this section 
after its settlement, is the appointment by the governor, December, 1797, of 
Putnam Catlin as brigade inspector for Luzerne County. A year or two 
later, when it was feared the country was on the eve of a war with France, 
the inhabitants of this section were alive to the situation. In the ' Wilkes- 
Barre Gazette and Luzerne Advertiser,' about this time, appeared a notice 
to attract the attention of "ambitious, spirited, and patriotic young men, 
tired of lounging about their fathers' houses, and who wish to exchange a life of 
tasteless indolence for that of glory," offering them a chance to join the army. 

The first military movement within the limits of Susquehanna County 
appears to have been in 1806, when the first militia training was held at 
Parkevale. There is special mention of trainings there in 1807-8. In the 
spring of 1808, there was a " muster and inspection" at Joseph Chapman, 
Jr's. Thomas Parke was then colonel, and Walter Lyon major of the 129th 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia. In 1811, at a military election, William C. 
Turrel was chosen lieutenant-colonel ; Isaac Post and Asa Dimock, majors ; 
Elias Bell, Hezekiah Leach, Hiel Tupper, Amos Tiffany, Seth Mitchell, Fred. 
Bailey, John Bard, and Calvin D. Cobb were early captains in this regiment; 
and at some time, probably, Rufus Fish, Jeremiah Spencer, and Jabez A. 
Birchard. 

The war of 1812 furnished practical reasons for military duty. An " Ap- 
peal to Patriots," published in the Luzerne County papers in 1813, offered a 
bounty of $16 (for an enlistment for three years), and three months' pay at 
$8 per month, with one hundred and sixty acres of land. Those who enlisted 
for only eighteen months received no land. 

Soldiers of " the War of 1812," who were then or afterwards residents 
in Susquehanna County. — Colonel Fred Bailey, P. Turner Baldwin, Daniel 
Brewster, Billings Burdick. Calvin Corse, Gurdon Darrow, Zeph Eldred, S. 
B. Fessenden, Martin Hall. Jonathan Howard, Jesse Hale, David Hale, Na- 
thaniel R. Locke, Joseph McKune, N. Norris, Major Isaac Post, A. H . Read 
(battle of Plattsburg), Enoch Smith, Luther Stanley, Ezra Sturdevanr, a., 
Jonathan Treadvvell/Wareham B. Walker, Samuel Wilson, Lieutenant J. B. 
Worden. Jairus Lamb and Hosea Benson were " ordered to stand a draft" — 
nothing further appears. Total number, 26. 

Complaint of taxes increased as hostilities continued. May, 1814, bounty 
was raised to $124, besides 160 acres. In the summer a call appeared in 
the Luzerne County papers (none were then established in Susquehanna 
County) for a meeting immediately after court, 23d August, at Edward Ful- 
ler's, " friendly to a restoration of peace or a more vigorous prosecutiou of 
the war." 

The burning of the Capitol at Washington stimulated militia organizations. 
At a militia election in the summer of 1814, Fred. Bailey was elected colonel, 
Joseph Burgess, lieutenant-colonel ; J. Slocum, and Benjamin Lathrop, majors. 

Isaac Post was appointed inspector of 2d- Brigade. From his diary we 
learn that, October 23, 1814, he "received orders for marching the militia, 
and set out for Wilkes-Barre on the 24th. Arrived at Danville, Fa., Nov. 
1; with detachment of militia on the 13th; received orders to halt 19th ; to 



622 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

dismiss the detachment 21st ; the whole discharged 24th and 25th same 
month." Colonel F. Bailey accompanied this expedition. It was held up 
to ridicule, while the militia were waiting for their pay until April, 1819, 
and afterwards, for its fruitlessness. Ezra Sturdevant, drafted from Harford 
or New-Mil ford, was left sick at Danville, died, and was buried with military 
honors. It is laughingly asserted that Major Post brought back one hand- 
rifle and one tin camp kettle as the spoils of this expedition. 

After the war the old organization died out, and the 76th Regiment appears 
to have taken its place. Walter Lyon and Joseph Washburn were majors of 
this regiment, and Austin Howell, Job Tyler (afterwards colonel), Daniel 
Lathrop, and John Comfort, captains. In 1819, Daniel Lathrop was elected 
lieutenant-colonel of the same. I. Post declined a re-election as brigade 
inspector, and Samuel Thomas was chosen in 1823. The 2d Brigade, 8th 
Division, was composed of the 2d Regiment, Luzerne County, the 76th in 
Susquehanna, and the 70th in Wayne. Colonel Aden Stevens had command 
very early of a regiment composed of Bradford and Susquehanna men. At 
some time Francis Fordham was colonel of the 76th Regiment. 

Luman Ferry was captain of an independent volunteer company formed in 
1816. Several similar companies sprang up, among which we find the Har- 
ford Artillery, Captain Asahel Sweet, and also Obadiah Carpenter; a Rifle 
Company at Great Bend, Captain Jonathan Treadwell; the Choconut In- 
fantry, Captain Goodsell ; the Bridgewater Yeomanry Guards, Captain Ben- 
jamin Sayre, and later, Bela Jones, A. C. Luce, and Horace Smith; the 
Brooklyn Infantry and the New Milford Infantry, Captain Seth Bisbee; the 
Montrose Artillery, Captain H. J. Champion ; the Susquehanna Troop, of 
which Fred. Stephens was orderly-sergeant, and Samuel Gregory, Hyde 
Crocker, Samuel Bard, captains ; Montrose Rifle Grays, David Francis, cap- 
tain ; Springville Rifle Company, and Captain Canfleld's Infantry (Middle- 
town ?). 

In 1824, nine companies united to form the 126th Volunteer Regiment, 
William Jessup, colonel; Saxa Seymour, lieutenant-colonel ; B. Jones, ad- 
jutant; Stephen S. Jewett, and Simon S. Chamberlin, majors. For a few 
years succeeding military trainings were great occasions. Then came a lull, 
a sort of disrepute, while the question of temperance was prominent in the 
public mind. But the country was awake to the interests of the patriots of 
the revolution, and many availed themselves of the benefits of acts of Con- 
gress on their behalf. 

In 1837, there was a revival of military matters. Colonel D. D. Warner 
was elected brigadier-general. Mention is made of the 76th and 136th Regi- 
ments — 4 battalions ; the Washington Cuards, and Northern Guards Vol- 
unteer battalions, and 70th Regiment— 2 battalions, Wayne County — with 
which Susquehanna was connected. 

May, 1852, the Montrose Artillery procured a cannon. 

SOLDIERS OF THE UiNION ARMY, 1861-'65. 

"An army composed of American citizens cannot be all generals, or captains; and 
although we may admire the skill and prowess of a great and successful leader, yet the 
humblest private in the ranks, who performs his duty as a faithful soldier — facing every 
danger with an undaunted heart, dedicating his best energies, and even life itself, to 
the service of his country — is as much a hero as the highest in command. He is equally 
entitled to the thanks and gratitude of his people ; for, while his rewards are much less, 
his sacrifices and privations are usually far greater." — From an address delivered on 
the Fourth of July, 1870, at Montrose, Pa., by Wm. M. Fost, Esq. 

[Abbreviations. The letter d signifies died in the service, or in consequence of it ; w, wounded ; 

k, killed] 

Ararat. — Andrew J. Archer, Geo. W. Archer, Thomas J. Archer, David 
Avery, Eli L. Avery, George Avery, to., Nathan P. Avery, d., Samuel C. 



APPENDIX. 623 

Avery, Thomas Avery, w., Porter Avery, Thomas Beaumont, Arthur E. 
Blockham, w. d., Thomas S. Bowell, Danford Burman, David Burman, d., 
George H. Burman, Henry I. Bushnell, w., Theo. W. Doyle, Wm. 0. Doyle, 
Peter N. Dunn, Archibald Foster, Erastus R. Foster, Pardon Hill, Elgeroy 
Hill, Isaac Hine, d., Luther Hine, Judson J. Perrington, Fred. M. Tennant, 
John H. Tooley, E. D. Tyler, w„ John T. Walker, d., Lu man Washburn, d., 

A. B. Williams, Sherman Williams, Albert Wood, d. Total number, 35. 

Auburn. — E- L. Adams, John Anderson (a prisoner eight months), 
Charles Avery, Amos Baker, Henry Baker, Horace Baker, Jos. Barber, 
Joseph G. Beeman, Stephen 0. Beeman, Benjamin H. Boughton, w. d., Levi 
T. Bray, to., George Brotzman, iv., Isaac Brotzman, d., John Bullock, Jr., 
Lyman Bullock (? emerg.), A. P. Bump, D. L. Bump, d., Lt. Aaron Bunnel, 
Owen Cadden, Henry N. Capwell, A. B. Carrier, Asa Carlin, N. Canfield, 
Mulford Carter, U. S. N., Benjamin Carter, Hiram Carter, Levi Chamberlain, 
George Cool, George Cooley, Charles 0. Cole, Edw. S. Coggswell (lost an 
arm), Aaron Coggswell, d., Hampton Conger, John Conrad, Ithamer Con- 
rad, Henry Corey, d., L. L. Corse, John Cox, Alpheus Crawford (lost an arm), 
Charles Crawford, d., C. E Davis, Thomas Davis, Alex. Devitt, McKendry 
Elliott, John Filan, Ransom W. Ford, John Finney, George France, Geo. S. 
Frink, Charles Fuller, D. 0. Fuller, Calvin S. Gay, w., Tredway K. Gay, d., 
Lt. James P. Gay, John W. Green, John Groo (?), Capt. John Guile, Aaron 
Hull, k., John Harris, E. M. Hollenback, d., (Ezekiel Hollenback ?) Wm. 
Holley, John Wesley Hotel, d., William Hotel, Anson B. Hyde, Austin 
Hyde'Lt. Unas F. 'Hollenback, d., E. F. Jacoby, Andrew Jackson, Fred. 
Jackson, Harry N. Kellogg, w., A. B. Kennedy, Richard V. Kennedy, (lost 
an arm), Marshall Knowles, d., John W. Knowles, Keeney Lathrop, Hora- 
tio U. Loomis. Jared Lillie, Earl Love, George Lyon, Herman Lyon, Wilbur 
Lyman, Lt. M. L. Lacey, Dana Lafrance, Jason Lemon, Leander Lott, 
Daniel C.Lowe, Benjamin Lowe. J. C. Lowe, Leander Lowe, George Main, 
Albert Maricle, d., Patrick Malone, Benjamin Marshall, Charles Marshall.. 
John Mannering, Hamilton McMicken, Nelson McMicken, Wesley McMic- 
ken, k., Nelson Ming, Samuel McLain, Danford Newton, Matthias C. Oliver, 
Paul Overfield, J. B. Overfield, w., Wm. H. Peet, A. L. Picket, Abraham 
G. Potter, d., J. C. Rifenberry, J. L. Rifenberry, (James ?), Philip Rifen- 
berry, John Ralston, Peter Rowe, Benjamin Seely, Mallery Seely, H. Seely, 
Joel B. Sherwood, J. Shannon, d., Andrew Shoemaker, k., William Shoe- 
maker, John Show, Denmark Smith, d., Davis C. Smith, Daniel Smith, d., 
John L. Smith, John Strunk, d., William Strunk, k., Terrence Smith, Julian 
Stillwell, Paul 0. Stillwell, Henry Sumne (Sumner ?) Jackson Swisher, W. 

B. Simpson, (Rush ?) B. L. Taylor, John G. Taylor, William Taylor, Lt. A. 
D. Tewksbury. MD., Emmet Tewksbury, Wm. J. Thornton, Joshua Thorn- 
ton, Lt. H. C. Titman, A., Elias Titman, D. C. Titman, Jacob Titman, Philip 
Titman, Davis Transue, Moses Treible, Peter Treible, A. S. Vanscoten, 
George Vanscoten, Marshall H. Vanscoten, w., David Voss, Amos Warner, 
John Warner, Sidney Warner, Joseph Wilber, Martin Wiles, Warner Wiles, A. 
V. Williams, John Williams, Ira Winans, Chauncey Wright, Daniel Yonker, 
H. L. Youngs, d., Wesley L. France, Henry W. Brown. Total number, 167. 

Brooklyn.— Charles G. Adams, d., J. W. Adams, E. P. Bailey, L. M 
Baldwin, Asa Benjamin, d., James Benjamin, Lyman Benjamin, Charles 
Berthwick, Leander Brooks, W. H. Brookius, C. M. Chapman, Wm. Culver, 
A. T. Dewitt, J. M. Dewitt, A. J. Dickerson, d., G. N. Doolittle, W. H. Doo- 
little, Harrison Doud, W. H. Eld ridge, J. Henry Ellis. H. C. Fairchild (State 
Guard), Wm. Fish, Edw. P. Gardiner, d. (Gibson), Samuel Gard, Lyman E. 
Giles, d., M. J. Goodrich, Edward Goss, Zachariah Goss, Wm. H. Gray, A. 
A. Hempstead, John Hempstead. (/., Preston T. Hollister, E. A. Kent, w., 
Richard II . Kent, k., Christian Kerr, P. Frederick Lindsley, G. C. Mack, L. 



624 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

P. Mack, Chester McKinney, d,, A. M. Murray, Wm. H. Nott, Edward Oak- 
ley, Joseph Oakley, W. R. Page, Charles Penny, George Rolph, d., Charles 
Reynolds, d., J. L. Reynolds, J. N. Reynolds, d., Oscar Reynolds, Charles 
Richards, Joseph Richards, Lemuel Richards, Edwin Rogers, d., John M. 
Roper, Benjamin Saunders, Perry D. Saunders, Jc., James Slacle, James Smith, 
Jas. N. Smith, Hiram J. Snyder. Geo. E. Stage, Wallace Stedman, Fred. 
Stephens, Jc. (Auburn?), Henry Tewksbury, J. W. Tewksbury, Chris. Thayer, 
Alson Trip, d., John Tiffany, Wm. H. Tripler, Marcus De L. Underwood, 
Ansel Vergerson, d.. N. J. Vergerson (Ferguson?), Courtwright Vanauken 
(State Guard), John Vanauken, d., Sidney Vanauken, Edgar Williams, Jc., 
Benjamin Williams, Daniel Wilcox, d., William White, Adney Whitl'ord, d., 
Lester Wright, d. Total number, 81. 

Beidgewater. — H. Allen, Ashmun C. Ayres (N. Milford?), Lt. Bicknell 
B. Atherton, Samuel Backus, H. S. Baldwin, Joshua A. Bailey, Charles 
Bookstaver, Wilbur S. Benjamin, Adelbert Corwin, Jc., Gilbert Corwin, Jc., 
David Cool, Oscar B. Darrow, George E. Dutcher, Jonathan M. Eckert, 
Wallace J. Foster, Charles C. Frink, Jonathan F. Gardner, Sergt. Geo. A. 
Guernsey, pris., Edward S. Howell, d., F. Holbrook, George W. Hewitt, 
Joseph Kanaway, (Jessup ?), Joseph Jameson, A. B. Galloway, Franklin M. 
Kent, Henry Lester (Jessup ?), Charles McKenzie, Jc, Chas. H. Stone, Wm. 
A. Perkins, Charles Perkins, James A. Peasley, Charles E. Sines, d., John 
H.Sodan, Wentz P. Snedaker, Alfred J. Stephens, Frederick Stark, d., Wm. 
H. Stark, Henry Sweet, Wm. C. Trumbull, lost an arm, Andrew 0. Tyler, 
Lt. Logan O. Tyler, Jc., Wm. S. Vanorsdale, Theodore F. Warner, Jc, Ansel 
Warner, Byron R. Wade, Jerome Wade, Maj. John W. Young, Eli East- 
man. Total number, 48. 

Minute men of 1862 and '63: Judson Beach, Augustus Darrow, Lewis 
Dutcher, Charles Fessenden. Mark Hunter, Cassius Johnson, Edson Mott, 
James M. Sprout, Chandler Stephens, C. F. Watrous. Total number, 10. 

Clifford.— Charles R. Berry, George W. Brownell, John Carpenter, 
James Coleman, Benton Coleman, Mordecai H. Doud, James C. Decker, 
Capt, Wm. G. Graham, Frank E. Hull, George Hull, Thad. W. Hunter, John 
H. Hunter, William J. Lewis, Redmond C. Miller, d., Samuel R. Miller, 
George Patton, Peter Patton, Zenas Rounds, Eliab Stage, d., Charles M. 
Truesdail, Julian E. Whitman (?). Total number, 21. 

Dimock. — Albert J. Ainey (emerg.), Lieut. P. E. Brush (surgeon), E. L. 
Blakeslee, Orin Blakeslee, J. G. Blakeslee, d., Lewis Blakeslee, Serg. Isaac 
G. Babcock, Miner Bailey, J. Barber, d., Charles Bolles, J. Bolles, A;., Jasper 
Bolles, d. at Andersonville, Wm. Burdick, P. Birch, w.d., W. Bloom, George 
D. Carney, Henry D. Carney (Bridgewater ?), James W. Carrier, Myron Car- 
rier, d.. Scott Carrier, d., George Chrisman, J. Cokeley, Cokeley, P. Daley 

(Friendsville?), H. H. Dougherty, James Dougherty, Jc., Mason Fargo, Corp. 
F. Fargo, M. Hinkley, Wm. Hinkley, d., E. Hawley, D. Hawley, Thomas 
Hickok, D. Higley, E. L. Gardner, d., Charles Griswold, King Griswold, J. 
A. Giles, Prentiss A. Gavitt, d. in hospital, James Gavitt, Charles Gavitt, 
d. in Southern hospital, Capt. E. B. Gates, w., leg amp., pris., W. E. Gates, 
N. H. Gates, pris. at Andersonville ten months, Harlan W. Gates, Corp. A. 
P. Gates, E. F. v Gates, Jc., Wm. S. Gates, Serg. Parker J. Gates, w. twice, 
injured for life, Charles S. Gates, pris. at Salisbury five months, Wm. H. 
Gray, do., Lieut. A. Larue, Wm. Lawrence, w., injured for life, pris., Edwin 
Lathrop, Eugene Lathrop, Z. Lathrop, Albert Miles, R. Miles, Lieut. T. P. 
Mills, A. Mitchell (Rush?), Henry Mowers, d., Henry Mock, Geo. Newton, 
pris. at Salisbury, Z. O. Newton, Lieut. Wm. Parke, Sol. Parks, (/., H. Penny, 
Capt. S. L. Richards, P. W. Riley, iv., Corp. H. Roberts, C. Stephens, d., 
George W. Smith, pris.; Terry Sheen, d,, Wm. Smith, A. Stage, d., R. Stage, 



APPENDIX. 625 

d., Tunis Springer, Frank U. Stephens, H. V. Thompson (minute), Mason 
Tingley, Win, Underbill, k.. Levi Uptagrow, k., Geo. Williams, John Wil- 
liams, L. H. Woodruff, Jr., John Young, w. d. Robert Service (or Zerfass ?), 
Alfred B. Tingley, Riley W. Blakeslee (emergency men). Total number, 89. 

Dundaff. — Paul Bariger, w., Urbane Bariger (Gibson?), Geo. E. Bennett, 
H. F. Bennett, Ebenezer Brownell, Charles Coil, James Coil, John Coil, 
Thomas Coil, George Goodrich, k., Nathaniel Goodrich, George Potter, 
Joseph Pruner; George Simpson, Jerome Slocum. Lloyd Slocum, k., Merrit 
Slocum, George Stark, Edgar Weaver, William Witter, d. a prisoner, H. C. 
Yarrington. Total number, 21. 

Forest Lake. — Frank Angell, Robert Booth, Myron Bradshaw, Isaac 
Giffin, Daniel Hawse, Henry Jenner, Ezra P. Lester, William Lepper, Calvin 
L. Lincoln, Joshua P. Miller, Alonzo Mott, John M'Coy, Martin Perigo, E. 
L. Rhinevault, Fred. Scribner, Wm. A. Southwell, Edward B. Slawson, Wm. 
B. Southwell, Charles Small, Vanness Small, George B. Strange, James 
Leman Turrell, M. S. Towne, Asa Warner, Stanley B. Warner, John W. 
White, Warren T. White, H. R. West, Charles A. West, Charles E. Web- 
ster. The foregoing all belonged to Capt. Morris's company. Nineteen 
others, it is said, went from Forest Lake, and among them Gardner Taylor, 
Alanson Wright, Miles D. Baldwin, Judson L. Cornell; but no other names 
have been furnished. Total number, 31+19=50. 

Franklin. — E. L. Beebe, Lyman Beebe, d., Walter L. Beebe, Ferd. Bolles, 
C D. Bryant, A. S. Burrows, James Cromwell, k., John Cromwell, draft., 
Jacob Delamater, k., Ambrose Disbrow, Jesse Disbrow, Charles Gary, 
Samuel Hill, Stiles Jacobus, Samuel Keeler, Sumner E. Lines, k., Joseph 
Maryott, draft., E. J. Messenger, Henry N. Pierson. (/., Jacob W. Palmer, 
permanently crippled, Augustus Smith, John Snow, draft., Daniel F. Still- 
well, k., S. L. Stillwell, A. E. Stockholm, George Stockholm, J. J. Stock- 
holm, Theodore Todd, d., Benj. J. Vance, William Ward, k., Edward Watson. 

Minute Men: J. M. Fisk, O. H. Summers, Alonzo Todd, Lewis Todd. 
Stillman Fuller was employed by government as an overseer on a cotton 
plantation; Mrs. Lydia Fuller went as teacher. Total number, 31+4=35. 

Friendsville. — Oscar Caswell, H. Cook, Andrew Ferry, Frank E. Foster, 
J. W. Glidden, Archie H. Horton, W. W. Horton, C. L. Leet, Dr. N. Y. Leet, 
surgeon, Silas Light (Middletown?), Orin Emory Lester, 1 Harlan Wesley 
Lester, Thomas Matthews, Michael Mooney, John Mooney, G. W. Power, 
Geo. W. Rice, Philip Ryan, Frank P. Ryan, M. Spafford, F. Russel. (In 
1862, Friendsville had never had over 45 voters.) Total number, 21. 

Gibson. — G. S. Ames, d., N. C. Austin, Myron Barnes, Wm. Barnes, 
Rufus Barnes, W. H. H. Bennett, Geo. W. Bennett, w., James Barton, d., 
Jonathan Barrager. Simeon Barrager, Theodore Barrager, Wm. Barrager, 
Farris Blanchard, d., Moses Brewer, Adjt. Elisha B. Brainerd, Corp. Wm. 
P. Brainerd, d., Henry Card, Dan. Carpenter, Lieut. T. Leroy Case. Lieut. 
Albert Capron, Dr. James C. Card, assist, surgeon, d., Lieut. Wm. N. 
Chamberlin, w., Wm. T. Chandler, B. F. Chamberlin, Nelson D. Coon, S. 
S. Coon, Martin Conrad, Geo. W. Conrad, Michael Conrad, Wm. S. Conrad, 
d., Henry Coil, Isaac P. Corey, John M. Corey, James H. Corey, d. the day 



1 Ezra P. Lester is claimed also by Friendsville ; he is one of five brothers 
who served in the war and "never received a scratch." Orin was in twenty- 
seven engagements, was never sick, was always on duty, was at Antietam, and 
the taking of Richmond. 
40 



626 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

after reaching home from Andersonville, Sergt. James M. Craft, Nelson 
Dickey, James Daniels, Wm. Doud, George Denney, d., G. T. Davis, Lieut. 
James H. Dony, Jason E. Fargo, G. M. Felton, Charles Felton, C. W. 
Gelatt, d., Albert Griggs, 7c, James N. Griggs, Edward Gardner, 7c, J. T. 
Halstead, James Hobart, Elias S. Harding, John S. Howell, Pardon Hill, 
Ord. Sergt. Charles M. Holmes, d., James A. Keach, Thomas Kelley, H. J. 
Kelley. Eseek Kelley, Asa Kinne, d.. George Lagier, S. A. Lake, Wm. Lee, 
B. B. Maples, E. B. Maxon, David P. Maynard, Q. M. Sergt. Matthew 
McPherson, k., Lawrence Manzer, Milton Mapes, C. S. Maxon, d. (probably 
killed), Ebenezer Owens, d. at Andersonville, Henry J. Pickering, Wm. 
Pickering, Henry D. Pickering, John Robinson, F. F. Rogers, Charles Roper, 
John Resseguie, Geo. T. Rezeare, Serg. Geo. R. Resseguie, w., Charles Ren- 
dall, Serg. Augustus J. Roper, k., John L. Riker, Q. M. Sergt. Raymond S. 
Scott, Urbane Sloat, Olney F. Sweet, J. E. Shepardson, Griffin G. Stark, 
Byron Steenback, Lewis Steenback (Jackson?), Milo Spencer, d. of w., 
Ebenezer Stanton, G. C. Tanner, Byron Tennant, E. G. Tennant, Charles 
Taylor, Freeman Taylor, John F. Taylor, Albert Townshend, d., J. 0. Tripp, 
Charles H. Tripp, w., Henry M. Tiffany, d., John I. Travis, k., Darius Walker, 
Francis M. Walker, James M. Warner, Charles M.Wells, Henry Washburn, 
Frank Whitmarsh, Wm. H. Whitmarsh, Harlan Whitney, d , Chester W. 
Whitney, Solomon Williams, A. N. Wood, Albert R. Woodward, Elmer 
Writer. 

Minute Men in 1863, not including some of the above: Elisha Bailey, E. 
T. Bailey, U. B. Gillett, Henry Ingalls, Jack Low, Victor P. Low, Albert 
B. Payne, Frank D. Russel. Corp. Gilbert R. Stiles, Geo. B. Tiffany, Lieut. 
Charles A. Ward, Duane Whitney. Total number, 115 + 12=127. 

Great Bend Township (in 1862). — Newell Ackerman, George Adams, 
Chauncey Baker, Rensselaer Barber, Alex. Bennett, Edwin A. Bennett, 
Harlow Blessing, John A. Brown, Josiah Brown, John H. Burley, Benjamin 
Buchannon, Joseph Crandall, Tsaac Crissell, Joseph Crissell, Jourdan Cris- 
sell, Wm. H. Crissell, 0. T. Conklin, George Clark, Ezekiel Davis, George 
Davis, Lieut. R. C. Du Bois (reg. army), George E. Ellis, Horton Ellis, 
Lorenzo Flint, Alberti 0. Fox, John Gaffney, Uriah Gates, George E. Hall, 
M. L. Hall, Charles Hawkins. John Holmes, Cyrus Hughs, George Hughs, 
Lafayette Hughs, George H. Hurlburt, Henry Kenyon, Daniel Losaw, Julius 
F. Loomis, William Lockwood, Thomas Lummerton, Wm. D. Lusk, Henry 
Melody, Jr., Legrand Marshall, Luman S. Millius, d., Joseph Morris, A. P. 
M'Creary, G. M'Creary, James 0. Munroe, William Murphy. James S. Oster- 
hout, John Osterhout, Jr., William Pennel, Henry Randall, Henry Ramsdall, 
Ambrose Ransom, John Searine, Simeon Skinner, Hiram Stoddard, Elisha 
M. Skinner, George W. St. Clair, Frank Tafe, George Tafe, Melvin Trow- 
bridge, Oscar Trowbridge, Robert Taylor, James C. Taylor, William Van- 
netten, John Vanway, Jacob Vanauken, Sidney Yan Valkinburgh, W. H. 
WilmO't, Emory Wilber, L. S. Woodward. 

From the Borough: Jackson B. Ferris, k., Geo. A. Wilson. [Probably 
many more.] Total number, 75. 

Harford. — Alva Adams, Corp. Edwin F. Adams, d., J. Blake Adams, 
w., Lawris Adams, Dr. Wm. Alexander, surgeon, Wm. Bernard, Merrit 
Blackington (emergency), Herbert Blanding, Warren Birchell, d. of w., 
Henry D. Brewster, Samuel T. Brewster, d., Josiah Belknap, Charles 
Bryant, Cyrus Carpenter, Wm. N. Cowley (emergency), Wm. T. Carpenter, 
Merrit Cofi-lin, Azarias L. Daniels (Lenox?), Jefferson Daniels, Addison 
Dimock, Russell Darrow, Corp. Asa Decker, Henry Esterbrooks, Du Bois 
Freer, d., Dr. G. M. Gamble, surgeon, Leonard Gow, Wm. Gow, d., Lee 
Greenwood, Porter L. Green, d., John Halstead, Corp. Charles S. Halstead, 
Richard Halstead, Joseph Halstead, James C. Harding, Elijah Harding, 



APPENDIX. 627 

John Hobbs, Edward F. Hawley. d. after a year at Andersonville, Henry 
H. Hamilton, Seymour C. Halstead, Capt. Nelson Hawley, Leslie E. Hawley, 
George W. Lamb, Roscoe S. Loomis, d. of w., Benjamin Lewis, Nathan 
Lewis, Streeter Lewis, Linus Moore, Hiram Oakley, Andrew Orsman, George 
L. Payne, Wm. A. Payne, E. R. M. Percy, George W. Potter, Edgar Price, 
Wm. H. Patterson, Arthur Price, Chauncey Price, David Price, d., Theron 
Palmer, Collins Peck, Harvey Rice, k., Lyman PI Richardson, Mason Rich- 
ardson, Wm. Rogers. Braton L. Seeley, Charles L. Seeley, Wm. T. Spencer, 
James R. Spencer, Wm. Seamans, Egbert Sinsabaugh, Sergt. Henry M. 
Stearns, w., Charles A. Stearns, Capt. Abel T. Sweet, Corp. Foster F. Sweet, 




Tingley, Puane L. Tyler, Henry Tapper, k., Orlando Watrous, Capt. D. 
Everett Whitney, Henry Whitney, Dallas Watson, Russell Waterman, 
Thomas Way. d. prisoner, Vester Wilmarth, Wesley S. Wilmarth, Willard W. 
Wilmarth, Christopher C. Wilmarth, d. of w., Frederick Wilmarth, Lieut. 
Henry G. Williams, John M. AVilliams, d., E. S. Jackson. Total number, 102. 

Harmony. — Charles Atwell, Elijah Atwell, k., Lucius C. Atwell, rf., Paul 
Atwell, Edward P. Bagley, Daniel P. Bagley, George Backus, Noah Bisbee, 

l__i. _ 1 n "D Jt .1 TT T> j_ X! i T T» 11 TT 



VjUSS, JitiiMiim jtl. vjusj, uuwaiu vjuuuiu^iictm, A,., Liu, viiwu, tiunu J_>. r Uliei, 

Charles Gates, (Jackson?) Hobart Haines, Warren Haines, Benjamin 
Hawley, Nelson R. Henderson, Miner R. Hill, Henry H. Hobart, Alonzo 
Hoof, Warren Hunt, k., Alexander Ives, Benjamin C. Kidder, John Kipfer, 
Silas W. Lacey, Wm. C. Lacey, John D. Leary, Heury K. Marks, Charles 
Mayo, Oren Mayo, d., Nelson P. Mayo, Herman Meyer, d., Nelson Mcin- 
tosh, Gilbert E. McKune, Thomas Murphy, Edward F. Newell, Thomas J. 
Nicholson, Capt. Perez L. Norton, Thaddeus Odell, George W. Palmer, 
Daniel Patrick, prisoner at Andersonville, John H. Patrick, Oren 
Patrick, k., Julius G. Perkins, Lewis L. Perkins, k., George Pettis, George 
E. Pooler, Ira A. Pooler, k., James L. Pruyn, k„ Ichabod S L _Rgad, John J. 



Lorenzo D. Spafford, Isaac F. Storer, Ira Tewksbury, k., Elmer Tiel, George 
B. Ticknor, k., Albert G. Townsend, d., Maj. Frank W Tremain, k., Calvin 
Utter, Abram Walker, Charles Walker, k., lanthus Walker, Edgar Watrous, 
d,, Johu H. Webb, Oren P. White, d., George W. Whitney, John 0. Whit- 
ney, Roderick B. Whitney, d., Daniel C. Winters, Marvin 0. Writer. 
Minute men, not including some of the above : Jerome A. Chase, Nelson 
R. Comfort, Lieut. H. G. Hotchkiss, Lyman Mayo, Rensselaer McFarland, 
L. W. Scott, John D. Shutts, James 0. Taylor, Bennett Wakeman. Total 
number, 89 + 9=98. 

Herrick. — Jackson Bass, d., Erastus Bennett, L. M. Bunnell, Capt. Ira N. 
Burritt, Lieut. -Col. Loren Burritt, A. B. Burns, S. Carpenter, Z. Carpenter, 
Alva Cory, Enos Cory, Warren Cory, Augustus Dart, d., Clark Reed Dart, 
d. at Andersonville, L. M. Dart, Norton Dart, A. Dimmick, E. Dimmick, 
Stephen Ellis, d., J. Gardner, k... L. Kishbaugk, Matthew McPherson, I. 
Myers, Isaac Rankin, Robert Ridge, C. R. Stewart, Stanley Stewart, H. 
VVayman, J. J. Williams, J. Wilmarth. Total number, 29. 

Jackson. — Gustavus S. Ames, Leroy Aldrich, Moses B. Aldrich, Luther 
L. Barrett, Hollis A. Barrett, Geo. W. Barrett, Elias Barrett, Alonzo Bar- 
rett, Wallace B. Barrett, Sabin Barrett, Livingston Brooks, k., Albert Bald- 



628 HISTOKY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

win (New Milford?), B. F. Barnes, Frank Barnes, Stephen Barnes, Charles 
Belcher, Oscar Belcher, Manzer L. Benson, P. K. Benson, Austin Benson, 
Geo. W. Brink, Elmer Brown, J. W. Brown, Murray Brown. Zachary Brown, 
J. M. Bronson, 0. Bryant, Newton Bryant, David L. Bryant, Horace Burchell, 
Uibane Burchell, Lieut. A. D. Corse, Lieut. U. S. Cook, Geo. Cook, James 
B. Curtis, John Curtis, Wheaton Denney, Burton Dix, George Dix, Adelmer 
Haughty, Paniel P. Puren, C. H. Easterbrooks, Pwight Easterbrooks, Elijah 
Easterbrooks, Eliab F. Eastman, Willard Easterbroks, Whitmore Easter- 
brooks, E. A. French, George H. French, Edson M. French, Smith L. French, 
Sylvester L. French, Myron French, Merritt C. French, Edgar M. Foster, 
Luman Foster, Victor Foster, Enoch Fox, d., Maynard Gates, Lewis Gates, 
Theo. Galloway, E. T Galloway, lost a leg. A. M. Griggs, Paniel L. Gregory, 
Warren S. Gregory, Jerome Houghton, Elliott Harris, Lucus Hall, Urbane 
Hall, Ellgeroy Hill, P. Houghtalin, Wm. H. Lake, Charles Lake, Velosco 
Lake, Paniel Lane, Alfred W. Larrabee, Emery Larrabee, Hartley Larra- 
bee, Benj. H. Larrabee, L. P. Larrabee, Monroe J. Larrabee, Melvin Lar- 
rabee, Wesley Larrabee, Windsor Larrabee, Oscar Larrabee, Truman G. 
Larrabee, Edwin A. Leonard, Velosco Leonard, John Lockard, Jonas Mason, 
N. M. Martin, Elva Matteson, Orrin Matteson, Paniel Miller, Fred. Miller, 
Parius Marsh, Silas Marsh, Charles Mclntire, Joseph Moore, Seymour 
McVeigh, Michael J. Mulvey, Wm. H. Norris. Edwin C. Perry, Hermon J. 
Potter, Victor Potter, AVarren Pickering, Amasa N. Rounds, k., Amos 
Round, James H. Scott, Pavid Smith, Elliott Shepherdson, Charles Slater, 
Lewis Steenback, Nelson Steenback, Paul Steenback, d., J. Steenback, 
Alvin Strickland, H. H. Strickland, Joseph Strickland, Fred. Sloeum, Curtis 
'Panner, Bernard Tiffany, Lines W. Tiffany, Henry W. Tyler, Lieut. Amos 
Tucker, Myron Wheaton, Marble Wells, H. L. West, Benjamin West, Pelos 
Washburn" Velosco Washburn, W. S. Wells (?), H. S.Wells, d. in Rich- 
mond prison, H. M. Wells, Jr., (?) Patrick Yoliher. Total number, 135. 

Jkssup. — Geter Aney, w., prisoner, d. at Andersonville, Nicholas Aney, 
Peter Aney, lost a leg, Amos B. Baldwin, prisoner ten months, Levi S. 
Blaisdale, do., Sergeant Alanson W. Bissell, d., Albert Birchard, k., Benj. 
0. Bertholf, Harvey T. Castle, Jacob Cartwright, Wm. Coggswell, d., Chas. 
Crofut, Patrick Crow, Hiram Cypher, Jerre Cypher, Chas. Barrow, Nelson 
Pavis, d., Cyril Pepue, k.. John Pepue, Pavid L. Pewers, Wm. B. Powner, 
d., A. J. Prake, Paniel W. Prake. Geo. Prake, John Prummings, (Prum- 
mond ?), k., Geo. Eckart, k., ZenasFarnham, James Faurot, Francis Fuller (?), 
Frank Goddard. William Gray (?), Wm. H. Gray, Theodore Gunn, Sylvester 
Gurney, James Harris, Isaac Hart, Wm. Hart, Wm. Hewitt, James Hillis, 
d. in Libby Prison, Cyrus C. Howe, E. B. Howe, Nathan L. Howe, k., Nel- 
son Kelsey, Samuel Kelsey. Newton Lane, S. F. Lane, Chas. Light, Charles 
W. Lung, John Labar, k., Elvin Maynard, k., Henry Maynard, John Malo- 
ney, Calvin More, Win. B. Morgan, d., Samuel M'Keeby, Theo. M'Keeby, 
John M'Straw, Joel Myers, Edward F. Norris, John Norris, Pudley Otis, d. 
of w., Ferdinand Otis, k., Israel Otis, k., Leander Otis (navy), Theo. Otis, 
Pavid Paimeter, Pennis Parmeter, Christopher C. Peasley, w., Philip S. 
Quick, d. ofay., Wm. Ransom (Auburn?), Horace A. Roberts, Jacob Robert- 
son, Mortimer S. Roberts, w., prisoner, d., Peter P. Roe, Wm. S. Rose, d., 
Allen Shay, Writer A. Shay, Henry Shelp, id., John Shelp, k., Jonas Smith, 
k., Charles Sherman, Perry C. Sherman, k., Stanley Stone, Chas. H. Stone, 
Hampden Carlisle Stevens, d., George Struble, Pavid H. Tarbox, Robert 
Tarbox, Samuel Tarbox, Wm. W. Tarbox, Robert Teal, J. Webster Throck- 
morton, Francis Tuck, Thomas Vanhouton, Charles A. Vanness, d.. Lather 
L. Very, Ackley Walker. Rinaldo Walker, d., Pennis Warner, Geo. Warner, 
Jacob Warner, Julius Warner, d., Wallace W. Warner, Henry White, d., 
Edwin Whittuker, Henry Williams. 

Minute mev, September, 1862: James Young, Israel W. Barber. Total 
number, 106 + 2 = 108. 



APPENDIX. 629 

Lathrop. — George E. Bronson, P. S. Bronson, Francis Hawley, Samuel 
Lindsey, Asahel Lord, Elisha N. Lord, Enoch Lord, Franklin Lord, John 
Lord, Jonathan Merrill, Jedediah Safford (Brooklyn?), George D. Silvius 
(emerg.), Balser Steel, Jonathan Squiers, W. P. Tewksbury, Perington 
Tower, Daniel Vanauken. Total number, 17. 

Lenox. — Amos H. Adams, Malonthon (?) Adams, Silas A. Adams, John 
C. Allen, Orin Baker, Otis Bailey, Marvin Barber, Alonzo E. Bell, Jasper 
Bell, Wm. J. Bell, Sterling Belcher, Augustine Bonerman, d.. David Bonner, 
Philander J. Bonner, Henry H. Brown, John Cameron, Jr., Thos Cameron, 
Charles Card, George Carr, Corp. Winfield Scott Carr, Carvosso Churchill, 
w., Jackson Clark, Martin Clark, Rufus D. Clarke, Jno. S. Clarkson, Anthony 
Clarksou, William Clarkson, William Cole, J. B. Colvin, Wra F. Coney, 

C. W. Conrad, Jas. M. Conrad, w., Henry Conrad, Oscar Conrad, Jc, Rufus 
Conrad, Jerold F. Conrad, d., Martin Conrad, d., John Conrad, Jr., w., Aza- 
riah Daniels (?), James Daniels, Jefferson Daniels, Eldridge Davis, Asa 
Decker, George Decker, d., Elias C. Decker, Manny Dunn, James Farnam, 
Everett H. Felton, d., Burril Fisk, Henry Fisk, Albert Follet, Theo. Fuller, 
w., Andrew Furgerson, Barney Gardner, William Gardner, James Gleason, 
Stephen Gleason, Martin J. Goldin, William Green, d., Andrew Hallstead, 
Elisha Hallstead, 2d, David Hardy, Ira Hardy, w., S. M. Harding, James P. 
Hartley, Henry Hedsall, Norman Hines, A. D Hinckley, Peter Hinkley, d., 
Elias Hinkley, Jesse Howard, John Howard, d., Geo. W. Howell, Jr., Nel- 
son Jenkins, George Jerrold, Sylvester Knapp, Peter Lott, Chas. Manzer, 
cl., Henry Manzer, Horatio Manzer, George W. Mapes, Jones M'Counel, 
Allen W. M'Donald, Byron M'Donald, w., Frederick H. M'Donald, Myron 
M'Donald, w., D. K. M'Namarra, Cyrus D. Millard, Freeman Millard, Hum- 
phrey J. Millard, Joseph V. Millard, Stephen S. Millard, Adolph Miller, 
Douglass S. Miller, Lorin Miller, Martin L. Miller, Lieutenant Wm. Miller, 
Geo. W. Moore, George W. Moore, 2d, H. N. Mott, Isaac N. Morris, Thos. 
O'Donald, Alonzo A. Payne, Charles M. Payne, Theron Palmer, Francis W. 
Payne, George Payne, Ichabod Payne, rf., Charles Pease, Noah Phillips, 
Phineas Phillips, Russel Phillips, Jc, Frank Pickering, w., John D. Pickering, 
Joseph Plummer, Marvin Potter, Jc, Allison Price, Ohauncey Price, David 
Price, William Price, Harlow Quick, Alonzo A. Ransom, Orville Ransom, d., 
John Reese, Francis M. Robinson, Daniel Rought, Rufus Rought, Cornelius 
Rynearson, Israel Rynearson, John Rynearson, James C. Smyth, John A. 
Smyth, William Smyth, Parmenus Smith, 2d., Egbert Sinsinbaugh, Carmon 
Sprague, Norman Sprague, Chas. W. Snyder, Jc., Horace Snyder, Sylvester 
Snyder, Jc., Addison Stephens, d., Lafayette Stephens, Collins M. Sterling, 

D. E. Sterling, Jabez Sterling, Cyrus Tanner, Mordecai Tanner, Riley Tanner, 
Jas. Taylor, John Taylor, Asa Thomas, d., Wm. Thorn, Alson Tiffany, Orin 
Tiffany, Jc, Eugene Titus, Henry Titus, Myron J. Titus, Warner Tower, 
Henry Tupper, Jc., Edward Van Loan, Erastus Warner, John Watters, Jerry 
Westcott, Samuel E. West, Wm. F. West, Truman Whipple, Orange Whitney, 
d. prisoner, Willard M. Whitney, John W. White, Henry Whiting, David 
Young, Wm. Young. Total number, 172. 

Liberty. — Oliver H. Allard, J. Allen, Abram Allen, Jc, Levi Banker, 
John Bartle, Jason Biven, Henry L. Brooks, d., Joseph, Bailey and Peleg 
Butts sent subs., George Champlin, George Chapman, Captain G. W. Cran- 
dall, Charles Crandall, Jas. Cromwell (sub.), Bela J. Cruser, J. H. Darrow, 
Jonathan C. Darrow, Jc, Lewis Darrow (died going into battle). Ambrose 
Disbrow, Virgil P. Gunsalus, Elijah Harris, d.. Raynsford Hathaway, 
Samuel Hathaway, James Hendrickson, Samuel Hill, sub., James Hinch- 
man, John Hinchman, John Holmes, Alvah H. Howard, nine months. Au- 
gustus Howard, Jonathan Ingraham, Chas. Kenyon, Gerald Kenyon, Henry 
Kenyon, Job Knapp, Silas Knapp, Baronet J. Lasure, Zina A. Lindsey, 



630 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

Joseph Lovelace, Israel 0. Luce, Russel Luce, Charles C. Markham, Enfus 
A. Markham, William 0. Markham, D. C. Marvin, Enos M'Leod, John 
M'Leod, Joel Freeman Morse, George Preston, Ira Preston, Ira Robbins, A\, 
sub., Frank Runkle, Charles H. Sackett, Edwin Sackett, Benjamin Sisson, 
Almon L. Southworth, H. M. Southworth (min.), James W. Southworth 
(emerg.), Turner J. Southworth, d., Wallace E. Southworth, Daniel D. Spin- 
nings, w., Theodore Spinnings, John Smith, Theron L. Smith, Eugene L. 
Stanford, Pliny R. Stockwell, Porter Stockwell, Charles Stockwell, d., Chas. 
Tarbox, w., David Tarbox, w., George Tarbox, Samuel H. Tarbox, Captain 
i^-' s Harrison Truesdell, Rollin B. Truesdell (Great Bend ?), Samuel Truesdell, Joel 
Truesdell, John W. Truesdell, Lorenzo Vance, lost an arm, Benj. Warner, 
Alexander Webster, Ira Webster, John B. Webster, Fred. Wilbur, Charles 
Woodward, w. Total number, 84. 

Little Meadows. — Edw. Baynard, Darius Cortright, Richard Cortright, 
k., David H. Deuel, Asa D. Fessenden, Patrick Finn, James B. Fessenden, 
James H. Fox, John M. Gifford, w., Daniel Holland, Daniel Holland. Jr., 
William Holland, Charles L. Kimball, Augustus Lemtzen, 7c. , Frederick 
Martin, d., James Morrison, James O'Doud, Thos. O'Doud, James O'Shaugh- 
nessy, Jeremiah Ragan, Richard Ring, Nelson Stone, Franklin E. Smith, 
Patrick Smullen, Edmond Williams, John E. Williams, Rodney Williams. 

(Little Meadows had never polled over 42 votes.) Total number, 27. 

Middletown. — Orange A. Baldwin, Henry C. Barnnm, d., Newel Barnnm, 
Amos C. Beebe, D. Porter Beebe, Lorenzo D. Birch, d., Daniel Baxter, 
Silas Baxter, Samuel S. Baxter, John Birkbeck, d., Robert Birkbeck. d., 
David Brink, Charles Camp, David Canfield, John Conboy, Peter Degnan, 
Michael Fitzgerald, James E. Fitzgerald, Michael Hickey, Augustus P. 
Hoadley, Melvin Holman, Jackson Huff' (never heard from), Theron H. 
Jones, d., Lieutenant Michael Keenan, d., Horace M. Keeler, Dennis Lane, 
io., Edward Malay. Wm. M. Kivitt, Patrick Millmore, d. (?), Captain J. C. 
Morris, Patrick O'Brien, Henry C. Porter, d., Wm. Porter, d., Leonard B. 
Ross, George Sheldon, N. Y. Sherwood, Abijah Spafford, Milton Spaffbrd, 
d., Daniel Smith, George Smith, James Smith. Total number, 41. 

Montrose. — Thomas D. Allen, k., Peter H. Allen, Ed. F. Baldwin, Geo. 
W. Baker (?), Henry Burgess, J. 1. Chapman, Isaiah H. Cross, Capt. G. Z. 
Dimock, Wm. H. Dennis, Horace A. Deans, Hiram Dolloway, Wallace W. 
Doolittle, Abraham Fordham, d. at Anderson ville, Wm. H. Fordham, Lt. 
Thomas F. Foster, F. F. Goodwin, Henry Grant, Henry S. Hart, James 
Hackett, H. H. Hinds, William Ira, L. Byron Isbell, marine (lost his hear- 
ing), Chaplain Samuel Jessup, €). A. Lines, H. C. Lines, S. E. Leonard, d., 
Capt. J. R. Lyons, w., Lieut. B. R. Lyons, 2d, d. ofw., Serg Luke L. Lyons, 
d. ofw., Adj. Clark M. Lyons, d. ofw., Wm. W. Langdon, d., Merrrit Lillie, 
F. J. Lathrop, Wm. Magee, Isaac Melhuish, Rufus Messenger, SethMillins, 
Ebon Mooney, Lt. Hugh Mitchell, Stanley N. Mitchell, Chauncey W. Mott, 
Michael McKune, Sergt. Wm. Perigo, David Pierson, Isaac J. Post, C. B. 
Potter, Charles D. Rogers, E. W. Rosencrance, Sam'l S. Rosengrants (?), 
Fred. E. Shipman, J. B. Simmons", Wm. II. Street, John Smith, Thomas Smith, 
Geo. Stare, Capt. George L. Stone, Lt.-Col. C. W. Tyler, Edson S. Warner, 
Lt.- C. A.Warner, Lt. F. R. Warner, Lt.-Col. Edward R.Warner (reg. army), 
Addison Watrous, Charles H. Webb, Joshua Wickson, k., Geo. W. Wood- 
ruff, Selden T. Woodruff', Lt. Wm. H. Frink, Hugh McReady— 68. 

Colored Volunteers.— Charles Allen, George Baker, John Briscoe, Eman- 
uel Dade, Stephen Ennis, Wm. Gilmore, Lawson L. Goins, Peter Green, John 
W. Green, John Harris, Isaac Hopkins, Henry Johnson, Samuel Johnson, 
Wm. Johnson, Benjamin Naylor, David Nelson, Daniel Nelson, Josiah Nel- 



APPENDIX. 631 

son, Henry Parker, George Price. James Smith, Charles Smith, John Thomp- 
son. Josiah Wilson, Hamilton Youngs, Isaac Youngs. 

Of Militia, Minute or Emergency Men of 1862 and 1863 : Capt. R. Van 
Valkenberg, Capt. Win. H. Jessup (afterwards major and general), Capt. 
C. C. Halsey, Lt. L. F. Fitch, Wm. E. Post, afterwards captain, Lt. Ed. 
L. Weeks, Sergts. A. H. Smith, S. G. Pache, H. C. Foster, and D. D. 
Say re ; J. L. Atherton, B. S. Bentley, Jr., Geo. F. Bentley, Fred. 0. Bal- 
lard, F. H. Bunnell, Wm. H. Boyd, F. B. Chandler, B. L. Chandler, C. M. 
Crandall, Wm. L. Cox, C. C. Day, H. H. Dunmore, L. E. Doolittle, D. C. 
Fordham. G. H. Fordham, A. W. Faurot, E. R. Fargo, A. J. Gerritson. Isaac 
Harris, Wm. A. House, Calvin L. Howard, G. A. Jessup, H. F. Keeler, 
Lewis Langdon, Geo. H. Leal, Geo. P. Little, Theo. F. Mack, J. B. McCol- 
lum, B. H. Mulford, David Mahoney, H. C. Meeker, W. L. Pierce, Norman 
I. Post. J. W. Parker, Alvah H. Quick, E. J. Rogers. M. H. Robinson, W. 
T. Reed, P. Reynolds, B. C. Sayre, D. D. Searle, Wm. B. Simpson, E. R. 
Smith, C. H. Smith, Irving Scott, Chris. Sherman. Leroy Thayer, W. E. 
Thayer, H. C. Tyler, Charles E. Uptegrove, C. A. Warren, G. B. R. Wade, 
Z. Wheelock, Joseph H. Williams, Wm. Wallace Warner, Chas. J. Whipple, 
Lt. Henry F. Atherton, Wm. H. Stebbins. Total number, 66+26+66+2 
=160. 

New Mii-ford. — John Adams, Alonzo J. Albright, Dexter Albright, W. 
Ferris Aldrich, John Austin, Henry W. Avery, Albert J. Baldwin, Jeremiah 
Baldwin, Israel Banker, Capt. II. F. Beardsley, Stephen Beebe, John W. 
Belcher, Samuel R. Bell, Wm. B. Bowen, Edmund M. Brush, S. T. Bruyn, 
Daniel Buel, Nathan Buel, Frank Burchell, Warren Burchell, k., Abel A. 
Carter, Wm. Caswell, Hiram Chrispell, E. E. Corwin, Johnson A. Cornwell, 
Samuel Cole, Wm. Cornwell. John Corey, Isaac Corey, Hosea Crisstle, Frank 
Cummings, John C. Dana, Jonathan M. Darrow, pris., John L. Dennis, d., 
Nelson Decker, L. S. Everett, Uriah Gates, John H. Green, Theodore Gunn, 
Richmond Hall, Geo. Hall, John H. Harris, P]lbert Hartt, Lt. S S. Hager, 
Joseph S. Hallsted, Edward Hibbard, Cyrenus W. Hughes, Lafayette 
Hughes, Robert Jacobs, George Jackson, Martin Leonard (?), Delavan Le- 
roy, L. L. Leroy, Francillo Lewis, d., Edmund Manzer, d., Calvin McRoy, 
Wm. McRoy, M. McDonald, James McRoy. Samuel H. McCarroll, James 
B. McKeeby, Frazer McMillan, Daniel T. Miller, Harvey W. Miller, Price 
F. Miller, Edward Morse, DeWolf Mott, Levi Moss, d., Mortimer Moffits, 
Davis D. Moxley, J. Benson Northrup, James Oakley, Wm Penny, AVm. 
Parrish, E. A. Pendar, John Parmeter, David Parks, d., C. Stanley Page, 
Calvin I. Page, Philip Peckins, Jc., James Robinson, Warren E. Robinson, 
Wm. G. Seamans. Dennis Shay, B. Sherwood, Timothy C. Simpson, Stephen 
W. Sloat, John H. Smith, Silas A. Smith, Silas W. Squires. Jerome J. Stan- 
ton, pris., Edward L. Sutton, d., William Sutton, Henry H. Stoddard, Horace 
S. Stoddard, Russell Storrs, Thomas J. Tallmau, Dallas P. Tennant, k., Lewis 
W. Tennant, Orange W. Tennant, John V.. tf Tennant, Walter Tennant, w.,D. 
R. Tooker, Daniel D. Tompkins, Calvin Towner, Daniel Towner, Henry 
Towner, William Towner, Josiah Vandermark, Silas Vandermark. Alonzo 
Washburn, Ebenezer Washburn, Michael Washburn, Adin S. Wellman, 
Theron Wellman, Charles W. Wheat, Gilbert Whitbeck, George Wilson. Ed- 
son Williams, Dwight Williams, d., Warren Williams, d., Freeman P. Whit- 
ney, pris., Harlan S. Whitney, d. Total number, 123. 

Rusk. — Henry Avist, Alonzo Bramlee, Wm. Bramlee (Bromley?), J. M. 
Bunnell, Wm. Bunt, Charles A. Carter, Charles R. Carter, Oliver Carter, 
Reub n Carter, Henry Champion, Lyman Canfield, k., Ira Collar, John Can- 
field. Harvey Coleman, Z. L. Cooley, Theodore S. Clink, James Clink, Adam 
Clink, Dennis Clapp, Ammi Devine, Daniel Devine, w.. Hiram Devine, John 
W. Devine, w., Ezra Dewers, Corp. Henry W. Drake, w., Curtis R. Dun- 



632 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

more, Porter Dunmore, Andrew Estes, d. pris., Joseph Estes, Miles B. Estes, 
d. of io., Newton Estes, Wm. A. Farnham, Zenas N. Farnham, d. (?), Charles 
Fargo, Pearl Eassett, John Fowler, H. W. Gary, James Gary, Nathan Good- 
sell, E. Granger. Rev. H. H. Gray, Bela Griffin. Luther Granger, k., John W. 
Granger, Asa Hickok, Thomas Hickok, Frederick Hinds, William Hinds, k., 
Geo. Hughes, Thomas Hughes, Daniel Huntsman, Henry P. Johnson, Mor- 
timer T. Keeney, Frederick M. Keeney, J. S. Kunkle, d. p., J. W. Kunkle, w., 
George Kunkle, d., Bernard Kirkhnff, Kennard Lewis, k., Ezra Dennis Lind- 
sa y j Logan, Llewellyn Lewis, Hant'ord Lewis, Anson Lathrop, d., Ad- 
dison Lung, Wm. Marshall, Chas. McCormack. k., John McOormack, w., John 
McCauley^ Daniel McGee, Theodore McGee, Stephen S. Millard, Alba Mit- 
chell, Captain David Mitchell, Geo. W. Mitchell, Andrew Moore, k., James 
Nichols, Orlo Palmer, Jordan Palmer, Edward S. Perigo, Mark B. Perigo, 
A. Judson Perigo, Charles Potter, Henry W. Potter, d., David Patterson, 
Seth Shove, k , Lyman M. Sherwood (marine), Robert S. Shoemaker, J. F. 
Shoemaker (marine), Samuel Smith, O. S. Swan, Edwin H. Sloat, Alden 
Swackhammer, Joseph C. Shaddock, Walter B. Simpson, w., Wilson Terry, 
w., Warren Turner, Wm. Virgil, Wilber H. Wilcox, John West, Benjamin 
York. Total number, 102. 

Silver Lake. — Adj. John Brackney (Minute), John Cloon, reg. army, 
lost a leg, Patrick Colter, d., Thomas Donley, Corp. Jeremiah Donoven, A. 
Dutcher, Thomas English, Andrew Foot, k., Isaac Gage, John Ga<?e, David 
Gage, John Gary, d., Samuel Garv, James Hayes, w., Jeremiah Haves, xo. 

pris^ Hawley, Geo. C. Hill, Michael G. Hill, Oliver B. Hill, K Alson 

Howard, d.pris., Enos Howard, d., John Kernan, Percy King, pris., Charles 
Lawson, w. pris., Michael Laughlin, James Londragon, Daniel Mahoney 
(Minute), Nelson Meeker, Norman Meeker, Thomas McMan, Hebron Miller, 
Thomas Moses, William Moses, Francis O'Day, Ord. Sergt. George Pheros, 
Lafayette Pheros, Thomas Purtle, Maurice Reidy, Asahel L. Roberts, John 
Ryne, Fred. W. Slade, w., James Slade, Alpheus M. Snow, io., Clinton Snow, 
drafted. Abel Snow, drafted, Lorenzo W. Sullivan, Thompson, Na- 
thaniel Wakeley, Floyd Washburn, James Whalen, k., James Wilber, Stephen 
Wood. Total number, 52. 

Springville. — From the Company-rolls of Captains Yan Yalkenberg and 
Halsey, we gather the following lists of minute men of 1862, and emergency 
men of 1863, from Springville : Albert B. Alger, Jerome Avery, C. W. Bard, 
Benj. Blakeslee, D. Button, Durand Chamberlin, Horace J. Conrad, L. R. 
Dunham, Edgar C. Ely, J. B. Fletcher, Adam Hanyon. Marsh Hunter, Chaun- 
cey L. Knapp, Horatio N. Loomis, N. P. Loomis, Edward C. Lott, J. H. 
Lyman, Thos. W. Lyman, Wilber Lyman, L. F. Meacham, S. T. Parker, 
Lyman Phillips, Jonas Phillips, Nelson W\ Sheldon, William Smales, Justus 
Smith, Llewellyn Taylor, F. W. Tiffany, Seth Tyrrell, W. H. Yought, Fred. 
D. Warner, D. T. Welch, Miner«K. Williams, Sidney Warner, Gardner Tay- 
lor. Total number, 35. 

In the 57th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, is the name of Bentley 
Stark, of Niven. 

We have been told that five of the name of Hungerford enlisted in some 
regiment or regiments from the township ; thus it is evident the list is very 
incomplete. 

Daniel McCracken enlisted April 16, 1861— the first man who went from 
Susquehanna County. He was a prisoner five months at Richmond and Sa- 
lisbury. From the latter place he made his escape, with others, by digging a 
passage seven feet below the surface — a labor of three months— after which 
he was one month in reaching the Union lines. Benjamin N. Spencer and 

three sons— two of whom died — went from Springville, also Hendrick, 

Joseph Mackey, John R. Hungerford, lieutenant of colored regiment. 



APPENDIX. 633 

Clark Hungerford. sergeant, and three other brothers, are said to have served 
"without receiving a scratch." Wra. H. Culver. 

Susquehanna Depot. — Edward H. Bryant, D. R. Day. Richard Finnigan. 
John C. Foot, W. C. Frith, Edward Gilbert, Thomas Hassett, Michael Hol- 
leran, Henry A. Shaw, James M. Weller, George Williams. Total number, 1 1. 

Thomson. — Albert Austin, Andrew Babcock. Daniel Barley, John Bagley, 
Edwin Banks, Murray Brown, Delos Bryant, Julius H. Burr, Frank Cook, 
George Cook, Bowman Gallaway, Sizer Gelatt, Wm. Greek. Frank Hall. Har- 
rison Hall. George Hulce, Stephen Jenkins, Sidney Lewis, Alamauzer Mudsre, 
Wm. N. Nash, L. S. Rogers, G. W. Sampson, M. T. Whitney, R. V. Whit- 
ney. Total number, 24. 

Township not Known. — Abram V. Alden, James H. Baijlev, Joseph A. 
Beebe, d., Wm. E. Bartlet, Henry V. Bogart, LeviL. Brink, Melvin J. Buck, 
Peter Brown, Alanson Cole, Wm. J. Crandall, Thomson Crofut, F. G. Cnm- 
mings, Orimel S. Davison. Jerome Davison, John W. Dollowav, Theodore 
Devine, Luther Eldred, Freeman J. Ellsworth. Charles T. Fish, Patrick Gal 
laher, Asa Green, David L. Goss, D. M. Galloway, Sidney X. Galloway 
Dutcher Hyna, Oliver J. Howard, Wm C. Hinckley, John S. Jacobus, Jo 
seph McShearer, Chris. C. Nicholas, Elvin Newkirk, Orin A. Oakley, Wm 
E. Osman, Wm. D. Osborn, Orlando Parks, Phineas H. Pierson, David W 
Phillips. John W. Reynolds, Terrence Riley, Daniel H. Stephens, rf., Chas 
B. Salisbury, David T. Salisbury, Jesse M. Stevens, pris., Geo. Taylor, Simon 
Yanhorn, Marshall White, d. in pris., Geo. A. AVilson, Fred. D. Young, 
Lemuel Titman. Total number, 49. 

A fund of $630 has been collected towards a soldiers' monument. 
The following companies were recruited wholly or principally in Susque- 
hanna County. Doubtless there were parts of many others. 

1. A company of three months' men, under command of Captain Charles 

A. Warner, left Montrose, April 22, 1861 ; but at Harrisburg found 
that they must enlist for three years, if at all. Being unprepared for 
this, the company returned at once. 

2. Company K, 35th Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers, recruited at Sus- 

quehanna Depot ; Captain J. Shull, mustered in for three years. April 
23, 1861. 

3. Company H, 33d Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers. Captain Elisha 

B. Gates, mustered in June 20, 1861 ; out, June 17, 1864. 

4. Company D, 50th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain G. Z. 

Dimock, mustered in September 6, 1861 ; out, July 30, 1865. 

5. Company A, 57th Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers, Captains P. 

Sides, J. R. Lyons, mustered in December 4, 1851 ; out, June 29, 1865. 

6. Company K, 56th Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers, Captains E. S. 

AVarner, I. N. Burritt, mustered in March 3, 1862 ; out, July 1, 1865. 

7. Company F, 141st Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers. Captain H. F. 

Beardsley, mustered in August 26, 1862 ; out, May 28, 1865. 

8. Company H, 141st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain Caspar 

W. Tyler, mustered in August 27, 1862; out, May 28, 1865. 

9. Company B, 143d Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers, Captains J. H. 

Sornberger, William G. Graham, mustered in August 26, 1862 ; out, 
June 12, 1865. 

10. Company H, 143d Regiment Pennsylvania Yolunteers, Captain John 

C. Morris, mustered in September 18, 1862 ; out, June 12. 1S65. 

11. Company B, 162d 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Captain David E. AVhit- 
ney, mustered in October 20, 1862 ; out, June 16, 1S65. 



634 HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY. 

12. A part of 162d, 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was recruited from this 

county the same fall. 

13. Company A, 151st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain Geo. 
L. Stone, mustered in November 8, 1862 ; out, after 9 months. 

14. Company C, 151st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain John 
W. Young, mustered in November 8, 1862; out, after months. 

15. Company B, 177th Drafted Militia, Captain Arthur M. Phillips, mus- 
tered in November 8, 1862; out, after 9 months. 

16. Company E, 177th Drafted Militia, Captain Lewis M. Bunnell, mus- 
tered in November 8, 1862; out, after 9 months. 

17. A great part of a company in the 203d Regiment was composed of Au- 

burn men. 
Many men near the State line joined New York Regiments. 

State Militia, Minute, or Emergency Men. 

18. State defence, 1862, Captain R. Van Valkenburg. In service 9 days. 

19. State defence, 1863, Captains William H. Jessup, William E. Post, 

Co. B, 28th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia. In service about 6 weeks. 

20. Company D, 35th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, Captain Calvin C. 
Halsey. In service about 35 days. 

Whole number of soldiers about 2100. Without the emergency men the 
number is about 2000. 



INDEX. 



[A complete index of even such topics as appear here, has not been attempted, instances of 
many of them being too numerous; but the main points have reference. Family names are 
omitted where easily identified with townships. Sketches accompanying portraits can be found 
by referring to the list of illustrations.] 



A. 



Academies, 83, 184, 206, 234, 323, 396, 

441, 526-7, 530. 
Acid factory, 282. 
Agriculture, 502; agricultural society, 

504, 5i>5-509. 
Allen, Gen. Ethan, 14. 
Allen lands, 488. 
Amusements, primitive, 267. 
Animals, list of, 262 ; wild, 50, 228, 248. 

254, 262, 281, 295, 306, 311, 431, 480. 
Animal Magnetism, 330. 
Anti-Masonic party, 327, 520. 
Anti-Slavery Society, 174; petition, 

460; party, 520, 521. 
Apolacon, annals of, 422. 
Apple-trees, the three Indian, 52, 68, ' 

496; early orchard, 230. 
Apples, first load in Montrose, 322. 
Ararat, annals of, 472; summit, 473; 

post-office, 480. 
Artists, 544, 550. 
Assessment, first, 32. 
Auburn, annals of, 24S. 
Aurora borealis, remarkable, 329. 
Authors, 544-550. 



B. 



Backus, Jos., sketches by, 76, 82, 312. 

Banks, 160, 326, 329, 393, 518. 

Barlow, Rev. J., 273. 

Barnard, Samuel, 436, 515. 

Barryville, 470, 485. 

" Basswood township," 222. 

Bear stories, 147, 281, 295, 423. 

Beavers, 260. 

Bees, 256, 328. 

Bible Society, 173, 338, 470. 

Bibles, rare, 350, 551 . 

Binney, Horace, 120. 



Birds, 2 >2. 

Birchardville, 369. 

Bolles' Flat, 357, 363. 

Bookbinder, first, 324. 

Borough of Dundafl', 395 ; Friendsville, 
443 ; Great Bend, 84 ; Little Meadows, 
42S; Montrose, 317; New Mil ford, 
15-i; Susquehanna Depot, 106. 

Brackney, 44S, 460. 

Bradford County, 29, 31, 576. 

Braintiim, 26, 248. 

Brand, Eld. Wm., 367. 

Bridges, 77, -8, 97, 98, 110, 220. 

Bridgewater and Montrose, annals of, 
283. 

British settlement, 453 ; Brittania, 454. 

Brockville, 378. 

Brookdale, 275. 

Brooklyn, annals of, 110. 

Buck, J. B., sketches by, 57, 59, 80, 90, 
495. 

Building-blocks, Crandall's. 331. 

Burchard, the evangelist, 328.. 

Burrows' Hollow, 197, 205. 



Case, B.T., Esq., 24,76,323, 325,487,490. 

Catlin, Geo., the artist, 551-553. 

Census, 31, 571, 573-576. 

Centenarians, 190,221, 428. 

Certified townships, 16. 

Changes in politics, 518. 

Chapman, Isaac A., historian. {See 
Brooklyn and Dimock.) 

Charters of Connecticut and Pennsyl- 
vania, 1-4. 

Charter claims, explanation of Map, 1. 
" " Massachusetts, 1. 

die-bur, 115. 

Clieese factory, 41 S, 509. 

Choconut, annals of, 430. 



636 



INDEX. 



Cholera, 327. 

Churches and clergymen, 77-80, 83, 
109, 137-142, 161, 173, 186-188, 206, 
210, 221, 235, 244, 257, 270, 283, 337, 
344, 368, 380, 381, 384, 386, 397, 405, 
419-421,' 429, 443, 460, 469, 479, 485, 
526, 537-539. 

Cider-mill and first cider (?), 191, 249. 

"City," 384,385. 

Climate, 454, 503. 

Clifford, annals of, 382. 

Clinton, Gen. James, at Gt. Bend, 51. 

Clymer estate, 286, 490. 

Coal, 492, 494. 

Cold summer, 171, 435. 

Commissioners and clerks, 43, 44. 

Coins, 551. 

College, St. Joseph's, 442. 

Collins' lands, 491. 

Colored farmers, 457. 

Confirming law, 15 ; compromising, 1 6. 

Connecticut claims, 16; objection to. 
5, 6. 

Conger, Rev. Enoch, 339. 

Copper, sulphuret of, 494. 

Conyngham, Hon. John N., 37, 329; 
Redmond C, 392. 

Cope, Tliomas P., 234. 

County officers, 30, 31, 36, 41-45. 

County organization, 24; lines, 407, 
583. 

County projects, new, 172, 204, 253, 327. 

County seat, 31; superintendent, 531, 
533. 

Court-house, 32,327,331. (See Errata.) 

Court organized, 124. 

Coxe, Tench, 483. 

Cranberry marsh, 101. 

Crops, 247, 379, 407, 464, 468,480, 503. 

Creeks, Wyal using, 25 ; Canawacta, 50, 
463, 482; Cascade, 87, 89, 97; 111, 
143, 175, 192, 237, 248, 260, 275, 284 ; 
Meshoppen, 222. 

Cunningham's ferry, 72. 

Curiosity (tree-trunk), 3S2. 



D. 



Daguerreotypes, 330. 

Dandolo, Conn., township of, 115, 359. 

Day's 'Historical Collections,' item, 5. 

Decree at Trenton, 4, 12, 13, 15. 

Deer, 68, 213, 328, 396,418, 468. 

Deer-licks, 369,500. 

De Haert, Balthasar, 279, 496. 

Delaware Company's purchase, 1, 4, 

9-11. 
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 

326, 395. 
Democratic party, 519, 521 524. 



Diary of Andrew Tracy, 115, 116; of 

Betsey Leffingwell, 121-123 ; of Miss 

Safford, 136 ; of W. Chamberlin, 193 ; 

of C. and I. Richardson, 177, 278 : of J. 

Vaughn, 308 ; of Jerre Lyons, 325 ; of 

David Post, 326; of Philip Griffith, 

457. 
Diniock, annals of, 222 ; Corners, 168, 

235. 
Dimock, Eld., and Hon. Davis, 302, 306. 
Distilleries, 362, 557-S. 
Drinker, Henry, founder of the Drinker 

estate, 18-21, 87, 96, 106, 177, 189, 325, 

490. 
Drinker, Wm., 414. 
Du Bois, Joseph, sketches by, 50-52, 

56, 66-72, 74-77, 81,495. 
Duke of York, 3. 
Dundaff, 392, 395, 396. 



E. 



Earl of Warwick, 2. 

Eclipse, great (of 1806), 297. 

Editors, 539-544. 

Egypt, 50. 

Election districts and elections, 31, 49, 

218, 220, 239, 240, 436, 485, 518. 
Elk, 68, 385, 484. 
Elkwoods settlement, 385. 
Elk Mountain, 382. 
Ellerslie, 433, 440. 
Ellicott's road, 509. 
English settlers, 231, 375, 454, 545. 
Erie Railroad shops, 107-109. 
Evans, Evan W., 352. 
Ewing's lands, 491. 



F. 



Fan-farms at Gt. Bend, 65. 

Fashions, 326. 

Federalists, 518. 

Flagstone, 492. 

Francis, Tench, 53, 72. 

Franklin, Col. John, 14. 

Franklin, annals of, 258. 

Franklin Academy, 529. 

Fields' tract, 491. 

First child born in the county, 112. 

First grist-mill, 113 ; court, 320. 

Fire insurance agent, 325. 

Fires, 75, 85, 190, 273, 327, 330. 

Fire-engines, 327, 328, 330. 

Fireworks, first (?), 328. 

Fish, 59, 161, 170, 235, 261, 379, 394, 

458,503. 
Five Partners, 199. 
Forests, or timber, 101, 143, 379, 385, 

407, 437, 458, 464, 475, 482-503. 



INDEX. 



637 



Forest Lake, annals of, 368. 

Fossils, 493. 

Fourth of July, 115, 121, 287, 295,324, 

326, 327, 32S, 522-3. 
Freedmen, teachers to, 619. 
Freshets, 323, 363. 
Friedenshuetten, 213. 
Friends, 92, 440, 442, 447. 
Friendsville, 436, 438, 447. 

G. 

Gelatt, 465. 

Geological formation, 491. 

German settlement, 99. 

Gibson, annals of, 191. 

Glass factory, 396. 

Glenwood, 242. 

Good Templars, 244. 

Graugerville, 221. 

Graham, Peter, 392. 

Grand Army of the Republic, 572. 

Grand Friendship Society, 572. 

Great Bend, annals of, 49 ; borough, 84. 

Grow, Hon. G. A., 245. 

Gunsmith, first in Montrose, 325. 

Gunpowder, D. Spencer's pound of, 418. 



II. 



Hale's letters, 104. 

Hard winter, 136. 

Harford, annals of, 174. 

Harford University, 184, 529, 535. 

' Harp of the Beechwoods,' 546. 

Harper, Oliver, 97, 481. 

Harmony, annals of, 87. 

Haydenville, 145, 160. 

Heirloom, 370. 

Herbs (.see plants), 51. 

Herrick, annals of, 163. 

Herrick, Hon. Edw., 163, 329. 

Hills, 50, 121, 126, 155, 170, 192, 229, 

356, 384, 452, 463. 
History of Lackawanna Valley, item, 9. 
Hopbottom settlement and township, 

111; village, 405. 
Hotels, 109, 110, 132, 147, 150-1, 171, 

193-4, 197, 201, 241-2, 324,413,559. 
House, Royal E., 427. 
Hunters, 78, 103, 119, 144, 147, 253, 

281, 295. 346, 348, 360, 408, 418, 

425, 4*1, 445,468, 483, 4S4. 
Hyde, Ezekiel, 118, 121. 



I. 



Intrusion law, 16,17. 
Islands, 56, 101. 



Jackson, annals of, 463. 
Jackson Valley, 349. 
Jenkins, Col. John, 40S. 
Jessup, annals of, 356. 
Judges of the courts, 36. 

K. 

Kentuck, 191, 198. 

Kingsbury, Rev. Ebenezer, 81, 187, 270, 
479. 



Lakes and Ponds, 111, 143, 144,146,165 
175, 197, 235, 237, 248, 284 ; Jones', 
312; Forest, 375; Cotteral, 383; 
Crystal, 384; Wyal using, 427; Car- 
malt or Choconut, 432, 454 ; Cran- 
berry, 458 ; Quaker, 447 ; Stillwater, 
384; Tenbury, 454; Butler, 464; 
Church, Messenger, and Wrighter, 
482; Williams', 311; Wheaton's, 299. 

" Lakeside, " Choconut, 439; Lathrop, 
401. 

Land, measure for ceding to New York, 
84; to County, 31. 

Land, - price of, 450; standard value 
(1816), 504. 

Land warrants, 135, 196 ; landholders, 
13, 220, 233, 249, 253, 258, 349, 439. 

Lanesboro, 96. 

Lathrop, annals of, 400. 

Lawsville, 258, 263, 275. 

Lawyers, list of, 46-48. 

Lenox, annals of, 237. 

Letters of J. Sabin, 11S-120 ; of C. Pick- 
ering, 195 ; of C. Whipple, 360. 

Liberty, annals of, 275 ; ticket, 523. 

Libraries, 243. 

License laws, 563. 

Little Meadows, borough of, 422, 42S. 

Log-cabins, 255. 

Lord Say and Seal, 2 ; Lord Brooke, 2. 

Lost child, 386. 

Lumber, 160. 

Luzerne County, 1, 14, 15, 29. 

Lymanville, 408, 419. 

Lynn, 408, 418. 



M. 



Indians, purchase from, 4-6, 7, 66, 70, 

102 ; relics, 239, 249, 423, 463. I Machwihilusing, 212. 

Infidelity, 82, 83. Mail, 322, 325, 327. 



638 



INDEX. 



Manor township, 289, 356 ; map of, 

358. 
Maple sugar, 239, 364, 505. 
Markets, 131, 157, 190, 241, 253, 256. 
Mannington, 432. 
Masonry, 571. 

Massachusetts, charter claims of, 1. 
Matthews, the murderer, 4sl. 
Mechanic arts, 502 ; master mechanic, 

107. 
Medical Society, 324, 553. 
Meredith, Samuel, 490. 
Merchant, of longest standing, 159. 
Meylert, Secku, 157. 
Miantinomah, 50. 
Middletown, annals of, 345. 
Military, 181, 205, 396, 434, 621. 
Miller, Rev. A., historical discourse hy, 

175, 187. 
Mills (with factories, tanneries, etc.), 

53, 110, 160, 203, 221, 235, 241-2, 

282, 312, 319, 357, 346, 362, 379, 380, 

389, 425, 451, 470. 
Millardsville, 242. 
Milligan, Samuel, Esq., 425. 
Millinery, early, 324, 469. 
Miner, Hon. Chas., 1, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, 

16, 117, 225, 232, 359, 361-2, 365, 

369, 400. 
Mineral resources, 491, 494. 
Mineral springs, 213, 500, 501. 
Missionaries, foreign, 245, 335, 551. 
Mitchell, Seth, sketch, 149. 
Mobbing of Capt. B. Hinds, 289. 
Montrose, annals of, 283 ; borough, 317, 

321; items, 323-332; depot, 136; 

railroad, 417, 515. 
Morality of Susquehanna County, 329. 
Mormon prophet, 577- 
Moms multicaulis, 234, 380, 459. 
Mountains, 49, 164, 192, 463, 473. 
Mullein, rare, 175. 
Mungerville, 274. 
Mutual Insurance Co., 329. 



N. 



" Nasby," 434. 

Naturalization, first applicant for, 391. 
Navigation of Susquehanna River, 100. 
New Milford, annals of, 143 ; borough, 

59. 
New Laceyville, 257. 
Newspapers, 395, 519-521, 539-544. 
Nicholson, township, 26, 237-8 ; court, 

488. 
Nicholson, John, 26, 112, 114; lands, 

486. 
Nine Partners, 28, 174-5, 178, 189. 
Niven, P. 0.,418. 



Northampton County, 9. 
North Branch Canal, 327. 
Northumberland County, 1, 9. 
North Susquehanna, or Oakland, 110. 



0. 



Oakland, annals of, 100. 
Ochquago, Ouaquaga, etc., 49, 100. 
Odd Fellows, 572. 
Ontario County, 29. 



Packer, Hon. Asa, 132, 415. 

Painted Rocks, 52. 

Park, Mrs. Nehemiab (Hannah), sketch- 
es by, 260, 262, 270, 271. 

Pastorate, longest, 187. 

Patents to inventors, 109, 331-2, 419, 
471, 481. 

Peck, Geo , D.D., 137-139. 

Pennamite wars, 9, 10, 14. 

Pennsylvania claimants, 15. 

Pensions, 328. 

Petroleum, 256, 501-2. 

Phinneyton, 393. 

Physicians, 85, 86, 129, 137, 156, 159, 
183, 216, 221, 235, 392-5, 417, 469, 
553-556. 

Pickering, Timothy, Col. and Son, 14, 
15, 73, 84, 87, 95, 258, 276, 288, 445, 

Pierce, H. M., LL.D., 350. 

Pieeons, 245. 

Pillion, 280, 317. 

Plants, 247, 260. 

Plymouth, Grand Council of, 2. 

Politics, 518. 

Polyglot Grammar, by S. Barnard, 545. 

Poor-houses, 161,222, 332. 

Porter Ridge, 367. 

Post, Rev. A L., Sketches by, 289, 291, 
302, 313. 

Postage, 326. 

Post-offices, 64, 205, 220, 221, 231, 235, 
249, 257, 274, 282, 310, 367, 379, 440, 
460, 470 ; Chapter, 509. 

Postmaster, first, 86, 290 ; eldest, 432. 

Poyntell, Win., landholder, 167. 

Prattville, 347. 

Presentment of Grand Jury, 522. 

Preston, Samuel, 87, 89, 483. 

Printing offices, 233. 

Products of the soil, 234, 247, 254, 260, 
275, 285. 

Prospect Rock, 382, 383. 

Public buildings, cost of. (See Er- 
rata.) 



INDEX. 



639 



Q. 



Quarries, 101, 203, 24S. 



R. 



Railroad?, 327, 474, 486, 512; N. Y. 
and Erie, Del. Lack, and Western, 
Valley, Jefferson, 513; Montrose, 515 ; 
Lehigh Valley, 516 ; proposed, 517. 

Rattlesnakes, 106, 267. 

Red Rock, 52, 57. 

Representatives, 39. 

Republican party, 524. 

Revolutionary war, 12. 

Richter, Jean Paul, words of, 523. 

Rindaw, 28, 211, 286. 

Roads, 62, 64, 71, 73, 76, 84, 87, 88, 91. 
112, 144, 146. 164, 165, 171, 172, 181, 
218, 222, 230, 237, 238, 251, 255, 256, 
310, 354 (Wolf), 361, 441, 448, 451, 
458, 464, 465 ; Chapter, 509-512. 

Rogers, Prof. H. D., items from work 
of, 491. 

Roman Catholic priest, first, 457; chapel, 
462. 

Rose, Dr. R. H., 23, 31, 76, 308, 445, 
438, 448, 449, 459. 

Ruby, 369. 

Rush, annals of, 211. 



Salt, 7, 8, 350, 495-499. 
Salt Lick, valley of, 50. 
Sanitary Commission, 584. 
Savory's Comers, 470. 
Scarcity, time of, 346, 347. 
Scotch Settlement, 154, 231. 
Schools, 79-82, 109, 135, 172, 184, 205, 
235, 243, 273, 283, 305, 380, 424, 468, 

484, 526, 528, 530, 533, 534, (soldiers' 
orphans). 

Sabbath schools, 81, 110, 244, 429, 480, 

485, 535, 537. 

Secret societies, 571, 572. 

Senators, 39. 

Sheep, 233, 431, 457. 

Sheriffs, 44. 

Shrubs, 260. 

Skyrin house, old, 465. 

Silk, 380. 

Silver, 494. 

Silver-Lake, annals of, 444. 

Sisters of Charity, 109. 

Slaves, 72, 503. 

Smith, Joe. the Mormon, 577. 

Smiley, 192. 



Snow Hollow, 458. 

Snow, great. 324, 328, 363. 

Soil, 285, 367, 4u7, 431, 454, 503. 

Soldiers' Aid Societies, 5S4. 

Soldiers of the Union Army, 622. 

of the Revolution, 257, 327, 620. 

of the. war of 1812, 621. 
Sous of Temperance, 244. 
South Gibson, 205. 
Springville, annals of, 406. 
Stages, 290, 324, 326, 329. 
Stanton, Samuel, 87, 88. 
Starucca Depot, 486. 
State line, 509, 583. 
Steamboat, 396. 
St. Joseph's, 432. 
Stoke. (See Preface.) 
Stone Street, 375. 
Storms, 129, 171, 300. 
Stuart Street, 356. 
Sun-dogs, 300. 
Summersville, 145, 150, 159. 
Susquehanna Company's Indian pur- 
chases, 1, 4, 5, 9, 11. 
Susquehanna Depot, 106. 
Susquehanna River, 25, 89. 



T. 



Teachers' Associations, 531. 

Temperance, 257, 273, 460, 470, 480, 
485, 557-570. 

Tennant-town, 155. 

Thomson, annals of, 482. 

Thomson, Hon. Win, 71, 75, 4S2. 

Thompson, Epaphras, 386,390. 

Tioga township, 25, 49, 89, 110. 

Townships, original ten, 30. 

Tract Society, 273. 

Trainings, 268. (See Montrose items.) 

Treasurers of the county, 41. 

Treaty at Fort Stanwix, 6. 

Treadwell trial, 325, 582. 

Trees, 247, 260. 

Turner, Mrs. Juliana F., letters of, 376. 

Turnpikes : Bridgewater and Wilkes- 
Barre, 234, 285 ; Clifford and Wilkes 
Bane, 390 ; Belmont and Ochquago, 
484, 510-12; Milford and Owego, 
284, 369, 511 ; Newburgh, 510 ; Phila. 
and Great Bend, 155, 512. 

Tyler, Mrs. Mercy, 269, 469, 476. 

Typhus fever, 324, 503. 



U. 



Union dale, 382. 
Upsonville, 274. 
Usher, 122, 356, 359, 362. 



640 



INDEX. 



Vaccination introduced, 86. 
Vermont settlement, 466. 
Viaduct (Starucca), 98. 
Victory, 407. 



W. 



Wallace, J. B., 114, 120, 232, 487. 

Waldie, Adam, 371, 378, 546. 

Walker, Gov. G. C, of Va., 197. 

Waterford, 111. 

Wayne County, 473, 622. 

Welsh settlers, 174, 204, 345, 351, 353, 

397, 427. 
Western Reserve, 1. 
Westmoreland, 1, 9, 11, 14. 
West-town school lands, 491. 
White, Edward, 353, 441, 457. 
Wild animals, 59, 228, 248, 254, 262, 

281, 295, 306, 311,43], 480. (List, 

262.) 



Wilkes-Barre, signification of, 19. 
Wilkinson's Annals of Binghamton, 

items, 52. 
Willingborongh township, 26, 27, 49. 
Williston, Rev S., 79, 186. 
Williston, Hon. Horace, 329, 583. 
Wilmot, Hon. D. 235. 
Wilmot district 524. 
Wolf-hunt, 458. 
Wolf stories, 281, 402. 
Woman's work for the soldiers, 584. 
Woodbourne, 225, 233. 
Worden, O. N., Esq., sketches by, 147, 

471. 
Wyalusing township, 25, 26, 29, 213. 
Wyoming, 4, 6, 12, 13, 14. 
Wyoming credits, 16. 
Wyoming County, north line, 24. 



Yakrixgton, Dilton, 393. 
York, Rev. M. M., 140, 339. 



